A Vixen's Pride
by WonderfulChaos
Summary: After living the first fourteen years of life hidden as a boy, the young Uzumaki decides that she can no longer hide her true self after her battle with Haku on the bridge. Deciding it time to drop her act, she looks to become the deadliest kunoichi in the village.
1. Chpt I: Unmasked

**A/N: This is the first of the five fanfictions I have thought up while I have been struggling to write the next chapter of my first story**_** Becoming More. **_**I hope you all enjoy the story. **

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Malicious red chakra swirled violently around a boy covered in cuts and needles who kneeled over his fallen comrade in a dome of ice mirrors that was also covered in cuts and needles. The chakra whipped around and tore at the ground. He shook as he placed his hands on his friend's arm.

Hidden within the mirrors, a boy masked boy watched him in surprise. Never before had he felt such evil chakra erupt from a person before. _This chakra..._ he thought somewhat shaken by it. Suddenly, the before him began to stand as the senbon in his back were pushed out. Standing fully, a larger burst of that evil chakra came from him and took the shape of a horrifying canine shaped face. _That's impossible for chakra to change like this!_ thought the boy in the ice mirrors. _And it such an evil chakra..._ Shocked, he watched as all the visible wounds on the other boy rapidly healed right before his eyes. _The cuts on his hands! They are healing themselves! What is this boy?!_

The boy on the ground suddenly turned his head and looked at him. His orange hair had grown wild, and a feral look controlled his features. For a moment the two just stared before he began to growl and charged the ice mirrors. The boy in the mirrors prepped himself with senbon in each hand, and flew at the other boy to hit him. The feral boy spun rapidly out of range of the attack. The masked kid turned to quickly hide in another mirror, but was slammed by the feral boy's clawed hands, being tossed backwards.

The feral boy screamed and slammed down his fist. Chakra erupted from his fist and slowly began thinning the ice with its heat. Standing, the masked child tried to jump back as he suddenly found his hand grasped by the other boy. Looking up with more hate than the masked boy thought possible, the feral child smashed his fist into his face.

Flying backwards, the masked boy flew through his now weakened ice mirrors as his mask cracked down the middle. As he slid across the ground of the bridge they were on his dome of ice mirrors fell to pieces around the feral child he was facing. The feral boy growled as he noticed the other boy was standing. _Zabuza-san..._ The boy charged the boy as he stood there motionless. _I cannot... defeat this boy..._ Half of his mask falls to the ground as the boy comes closer and jumped into the sky with his hair lengthening and flowing freely behind him with a red ribbon floating away from it. _Zabuza-san..._ The boy watches as the last of his mask falls away and the other boys fist stopped just inches from his face. "Why did you stop..." he whispered solemnly. The oppressive energy from the other child slowly faded away. "I killed your precious friend, yet you can't kill me?"

Sighing, the boy pulled back his fist. He looked into the other kids face as he stood straight up, his voice becoming surprisingly feminine. "Truthfully... I feel no anger over Sasuke dying. I was more angry over how weak I felt when you did kill him." The boy looked over at his fallen comrade full of needles from the boy before him. "He is a friend... but he isn't one of the few precious people to me. Not truly anyway." He looked into the boy's eyes that had no fight left in them. "Zabuza is your precious person right Haku. Why is that?"

The beaten boy, now known as Haku, looked back into the other boy's eyes. He retold his story of how life was for him in Kiri. Explaining how his Kekkei Genkai made him a monster in the eyes of his village do to the civil war. How he one day ended up having to kill his own father to escape with his own life. He smiled when he told how Zabuza found him, a useless broken child with no reason to live. "He gave me a reason to live. To live for him, and help fight his battles to the end. That is what makes him so precious to me, so please kill me."

The boy tilted his head as he looked at Haku. "Why would you want me to do that?" he questioned. "I thought you wanted to live for that man."

Haku shook his head. "I do wish to live for Zabuza-san, but I am nothing more than his pawn. His tool to use as he sees fit. My only purpose is to fulfil his will as best as I can until I am no longer needed by him. Now though, now I am broken. He has no purpose for a broken tool, thus I have no purpose to continue living. Even if I wasn't his tool, he is like a father to me. Someone I will always stand beside. So please, kill me here and now."

The boy looked at him sadly. "That is sad to hear Haku, but I won't kill you. If you want to die then kill yourself, but I won't be your killer." A sound suddenly filled the air like a thousand birds were for some reason chirping making Haku look towards the sounds direction of origin. "I know you won't be here much longer, but I trust you ya know. You are purer than anyone else I have ever known in my entire life. I just wanted to let you know that." Haku looked at the boy before disappearing into an ice mirror he made suddenly.

The boy was left standing alone as he looked into the thick mist aimlessly. The sound of the birds quickly disappeared with a bursting sound that soon brought a stale silence. For a moment nothing happened as he stood there motionlessly until a scent hit him. Blood. Blood's scent filled the air as he reached up to his hair and ran a hand all the way down it to the small of his back. _He went so far as to even die for that one precious person in his life. Would I do that for anyone on this team? Could I really take a certain death attack for either Sasuke or Sakura so that they will live? No. No I couldn't do something like that. Ayame-neechan, Old Man Teuchi, Iruka-sensei, and Old Man Hokage yes. But not the people on this team. I wonder... where did the ribbon holding up my hair go off to?"_

Slowly the mist began to thin out as clapping could be heard at the unfinished end of the bridge. As the mist cleared, the boy could see his sensei Kakashi standing before Zabuza who's back was turned to him. Further back towards the beginning of the bridge, his teammate Sakura stood in front of Tazuna, the bridge builder, and the entire reason everyone was there. Sakura could be heard gasping in horror as she noticed Sasuke's downed body surrounded by broken ice shards and needles. She quickly ran over to his body with Tazuna following her, and steadily cried over Sasuke's body as Tazuna got a good look at the life a shinobi and kunoichi lived.

Down at the unfinished end of the bridge, a short man in a business man's suit with gray hair, a scrunchy face, and glasses on it stood with a large group of bandits behind him. He was clapping with a comical smile on his face, and a cane tucked under his arm. "Well, well, well. They call you a demon, but all I see is pathetic excuse for a missing nin. You let some scarecrow and a bunch of snot nosed brats beat you. A complete waste of money. At least I never planned to pay you in the first place."

Zabuza's eyes narrowed in anger as he turned his head slightly to Kakashi. "It seems or business with each other is done Kakashi. I should have known that a snake in the grass like Gato would betray me whenever he saw the perfect opportunity for it to happen." Kakashi nodded his understanding.

The clack of Gato's cane snapped out on the bridge as he walked over to Haku's lifeless body. A bloody hole the size of a fist was on the left side of his chest. "Hm, this is the kid that damn near broke my wrist last time we met. I owe you for that little stunt still. Too bad you won't be able to feel this." Spitting onto the blank face of Haku, Gato proceeded to viciously kick and stomp on the boy's corpse. He laughed as with each strike as Kakashi clenched his fist and Zabuza cried tears of loss and anger as he did the same.

Just as the man was about to stomp down on the boy's head, several shuriken lodged their way into his chest as a kunai struck his throat. Gato gurgled and spat out blood as he fell to the ground clutching his throat. Everyone watched as he kicked just before an explosive tag went off and tore his body apart. The sight made many of the bandits lose their lunch, and made Tazuna and Sakura pass out from the horrorific display. Those who could stomach the sight couldn't actually believe it. While the bandits continued to look at the spot their former employer used to occupy, Kakashi and Zabuza turned to the boy who's hand was still out in a throwing motion. "No one... should disrespect the dead like that," he said to no one in particular.

Zabuza walked over to Haku's body as Kakashi quickly moved to the boy's side. "Your hair," he said, "you should put it back up before Sakura wakes and notices. I don't think you want her to know you aren't a boy but a girl." He placed a hand on the newly revealed girl's shoulder as he looked back at his other two students. One of them was beginning to stir and it wasn't Sakura. "Nor Sasuke for that matter."

The girl looked back at her teammates and sighed with a tiny bit of relief that she hadn't actually caused the Uchiha to die. "Let them see. No one can hide behind a mask forever. Besides, I lost my ribbon. If you happen to see it, I'd like it back ya know." Kakashi nodded as the girl walked over to Haku and Zabuza. She kneeled down next to them as the bandits began yelling about having lost their pay. The two kneeled silently beside the fallen boy.

"You know," Zabuza suddenly said, "Haku didn't deserve this kinda life or death. He was too kind at the heart to be what I tried to mold him into." Looking at the girl next to him, he clenched his fist in sadness. "His death is my blame to take."

Standing, the girl grabbed the hilt of Zabuza's sword and pulled it away from the now surprised missing nin. "Haku-san became my friend in the matter of minutes some time ago," she whispered sadly. "I felt I could truly trust him. That isn't something I can say for many others around me. Not even my own two teammates have my true friendship let alone trust." Dragging the large weapon behind her, the girl walked towards the agitated group of bandits as her body began to be surrounded by the evil red chakra once again. "He saw you as a father. No matter what you did, the day you found him, you became his purpose. That boy would fight for you harder than he would even fight for his own life. That's why... I'm going to kill all these bastards right now." The red chakra burst from her in a wave knocking many of the bandits down.

Wide eyed and fascinated, Zabuza watched as the girl grabbed his sword by both hands and rushed her enemies with incredible speed for her level. She swung the weapon with the authority of a master sword wielder, and decimated any who dared come near her. Those at a distance were no safer from the swings as the red chakra fused into the blade and extended its reach. Their screams filled the air, and the smell of blood was all that could be picked out from the entire area. Any who tried to escape were stopped by clones she had made and surrounded them with. Those who somehow got off the bridge were picked off by kunai with explosive tags on them in the water. It wasn't long before the girl was the only living soul at the end of the bridge.

Kakashi and Zabuza were in awe at how easily she had decided and went about killing the hired hands of Gato. The blood of the bandits drenched her jumpsuit to the point you couldn't believe that it had ever been orange. Her normally blue eyes were now a bright red with vertical slits for pupils. Her blonde hair seemed to have darkened, and was in a messy array with blood splotches all over it. The canines in her teeth were more pronounced in her cheeks with her finger nails having sharpened and lengthened. All and all, with her dragging the large sword behind as she slowly returned to stand in front of Zabuza, the girl looked like a true demon.

She held out the weapon to Zabuza who shook his head. "I have no use for it anymore. Kakashi was able to still partly hit me with that jutsu of his. The bleeding inside me... I can feel it slowly taking my life away. It's time this sword is past down like it is supposed to be. Just tell me you name first... or are you actually named Naruto after all?"

The girl shook her head as her features slowly reverted themselves. "My name, my real name, is Kamiko Uzumaki, Konoha's Kyūbi

jinchūriki," she whispered.

Zabuza nodded. "I suspected that you were one from the feel of your chakra." He pulled out a scroll from his pocket and wrote down a few directions before handing it to Kamiko. "This will tell you where to find my hideout. It holds all sorts of information you might and will need. Some of it will be jutsus, others will be more of an information sort for you, and others still will have what you need to know to handle that sword. Will you take this as part of my dying wish?"

Kamiko held onto the scroll for a moment without moving. She looked into the eyes of the Demon of the Mist and saw something that made her nod her head. "Yes, I will. What is this other part to your dying wish that you have?"

Smiling, Zabuza pulled down his mask to reveal that all of his teeth were sharpened as he laid down. "I want you to have Haku buried somewhere nice, and to take my body and turn me in for the bounty on my head. I'm pretty sure you would like the amount of ryo you could get off of it."

Shaking her head, Kamiko knelt down and placed her hand on the side of Haku's face. "I will bury Haku like you asked, but I'm going to bury you too. Right next to him. I think he would really like that." Zabuza looked at her and nodded knowing he wouldn't be able to change the girl's mind. He looked over at Haku as renewed tears began to fall from his face.

Kamiko left him and Haku as he spoke his final words to the boy. She stood next to her sensei and looked down at the sword in her hand that was now hers. "Never thought I would end up holding the sword of one of the Seven Swords Men, let alone have it passed down to me." She gripped the handle while looking at it.

Kakashi placed his hand on the girl's shoulder before looking over to his other two, now awake, students. "Do you want help burying them Kamiko-chan? I wouldn't mind if you liked." The girl nodded her head as she watched Zabuza breathe his last breath with a smile on his face.

Sakura, who was supporting the injured Sasuke, and Tazuna walked over to the pair and looked at the mess about the bridge. "Sensei, what happened? I remember Gato's body exploding, but one body couldn't do this." In the distance, the villagers of the Wave Village could be heard revolting against what little of the bandits that were still around in the town.

Kakashi placed a hand on her head and ruffled her hair. "No need to worry about that my dear student. Why don't you and Tazuna go back to the house with Sasuke now? The danger in the mission should be all gone now, and everyone deserves to rest now after all of this." He looked at the fallen bodies of the two Kiri nin and frowned. "Even those two have earned their rest from all of this."

Nodding, Sakura began to leave with Tazuna and Sasuke in tow before he asked a question. "Hey Kakashi. Where is the dobe, and who is that girl standing next to you with Zabuza's sword?" Sakura suddenly noticed that she didn't see the blonde knuckled head and felt ashamed at just noticing the other girl, though after looking at her she wished she hadn't. The blood all over her body and hair made her sick.

Just as Kakashi was about to answer, Kamiko cut in. "Who I am, is not any of your business right now. Your friend Naruto... didn't survive the battle." Sakura gasped as tears filled her eyes, and Sasuke clenched his fist as they suddenly realized how much the blonde had meant to the both of them. "Go on like you sensei told you to. I have to bury Haku-san and Zabuza now if you don't mind." Getting a nod from Kakashi, the two Genin left with their charge following close behind them.

Kamiko watched her two teammates walk away with an emotionless stare before moving on to the two dead Kiri nin. Kamiko and Kakashi picked up Haku and Zabuza respectively and made their way down the bridge and across the water. They walked the entire way across the water without saying even a single word to each other. Not even when Kamiko's feet began to tremble from how little strength she had left to support herself and Haku with. They eventually made to where the unfinished bridge was going to end with little to no strength left in either of them.

There was a slope far off tto the side of the ridge that Kamiko noticed, and led Kakashi over to. "This is a good spot. Haku would like the scene this place provides." Kakashi nodded as the two dug the graves for the two Kiri nin and buried them in them. The girl pulled out the scroll she was given and shook it a little. "I'm going to go get my stuff from that hideout place. Don't tell Sakura or Sasuke anything until I get back. I want to tell them as much as possible myself."

"Are you sure about that Kamiko?" Kakashi asked worriedly as he looked on to the sad girl. "We could just say you are a random girl who found out she was related to Naruto. You don't have to reveal who you are to them."

The girl shook her head slowly as she walked away. "Reality. Can't hide behind a mask from it Kakashi-sensei. Just can't hide behind one." The silver haired man watch as his student walked off into the distance. He sighed before turning to look at the bridge in the distance. It would stand for many things to the villagers. For Kamiko, it would be a mark of reality. As she walked away from Kakashi, Kamiko looked up into the sky. _Haku. I promise, that like you, when I find that person that is more precious to me than the most valuable gem, I will defend them with my life._


	2. Chpt II: Revealed

**A/N: Thanks for the favorites, follows, and reviews. Didn't think I would have many off just the first chapter, but it still pleases me none the less.******

**Anyone that might worry that I will over power Kamiko-chan need not worry. I myself dislike an unbeatable main character. (Unless it's Itachi. Then it is definitely okay.) I'm not sure whether or not she will have chakra chains, she won't have the Rinnegan. That, I just might have planned for another story.**

**Well anyways on the chapter, I hope you enjoy!~**

**Forgotten disclaimer: Do Not Own An Anime/Manga**

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Finding Zabuza's Hideout was fairly easy as Kamiko followed the instructions on the paper he had given her that lead her to a pretty swampy area. The place was suspended of the ground slightly by multitudes of ninja wire all over the sides and top. It appeared to be a small abandon house that no one would dare ever enter.

Hoping in through the doorless opening, Kamiko scanned the house that the two shinobi had called a home of sorts. There seemed to be only two rooms to the place. The one she was in seemed to take up most of the house. There was a single bed at the very middle of the back of the room. Other than that, there was only a long bookcase that stretched across three of the four walls. There was barely a spot on the case that didn't have some sort of scroll or book on it.

Kamiko made several clones to find something to pack everything in, and then had them pack it. She turned to the one wall that was clear of anything than a simple wooden door. With caution, she slowly opened the door and looked in. The room wasn't very big, but it held a few things in it.

In the left corner of the room was a small bed with a book about Kiri on it. At the foot of the bed was a box with a few bits of clothing in it. In the other corner of the room was a small wooden desk with a chair in front of it. There were three mini stands on top of it with two of them having a Kiri hunter ninja mask on them. One of them was empty. _This must be Haku's room then._

The young girl notice that the stands were set in a triangle around a small black book. Walking over to the desk, she sat in the chair and read its cover. _No Mask. _Opening it, she found small neat hand writing throughout the book. After a while of slowly flipping through the pages, Kamiko noticed that every second or third page would never reach the bottom of the page but would end with a miniature signature. _Yuki Haku. He even kept a diary._ Nodding to herself, Kamiko pocketed the small diary before making three more clones. Having them pack all of the stuff that was on the desk and bookcase next to it, she walked back outside.

She was sure that out of everything she had grabbed that something would most definitely be of use to her for more than just mastering the use of her new weapon. Once all of her clones had come out of the house, leaving only the furniture in it, the girl looked at the hideout. She contemplated destroying before shaking her head. "Never know when I might need this place for my own reasons. Let's get back to the house."

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Five days later, Kamiko sat atop a pillar of the bridge as she looked down on to it while idly running her fingers along the handle of Kubikiribōchō. To others, people looked like ants from her vantage point, but to her everything looked like it was fresh. Like the world was just in the beginning stages of being made. _Though, that is exactly what might as well be happening to the people of the Wave. A new bridge will bring a new and fresh world._

The young blonde watched as the works went about building their new hope. Since the death of Gato and all the thugs that had come to the bridge with him, all of the workers have found a new found motivation for what they were doing. The young girl had some of her clones working with them to speed up the process. Kamiko sighed as they all just radiated the happiness she and her team had given them. Happiness her teammates refused to let her have.

A glare was ever present from the young Uchiha boy below her. Though the two were sent to oversee and watch out for Tazuna even though the bridge builder was now surely was safe from just about any human threat. Sasuke Uchiha ,though, did not care what reason he was here. All he cared about was the girl above him. Kamiko sighed as she looked down at the boy with an annoyed glance as she recalled the events when she returned the a few nights before.

**Flashback**

She was sitting at the table quietly as everyone looked at her with curiosity, but Kakashi (and Sasuke in the case he was just out right glaring at her with suspicion). The food was laid out on to table for everyone, but only Kakashi and Kamiko seemed to take any notice of that. The two just ignored the awkward air in the room that her presence had brought. Everyone else just watched as Kamiko ate her rice and pork in such a refined way, that she could have been a princess if it wasn't for all the blood that was still on her clothing and hair.

Sasuke, who was sitting directly across from her, snorted as he leaned back against the wall grabbing everyone's except Kamiko's attention. "Well I don't know about you guys, but I'm tired of this stupid act." He leaned closed his eyes and smirked. "This girl isn't anyone special, so enough with the stupid silent act. Who the hell are you?" After a moment's hesitation, Sakura nodded her head in agreement with him while Tazuna and his family just frowned. Kamiko continued eating her food like she had heard nothing.

Kakashi sighed as he set down his chopsticks. "Sasuke, there is no need to act that way. Plus she's eating right now. She won't say anything until she has finished her food. It's just the way this one is."

Sakura glanced between Kamiko and her sensei with slight confusion. "I don't get it. Do you two know each other Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke glared at Kakashi as the same thought had crossed his mind.

"Yes I know her," he gave them a weak eye smile. "In a way, we all know who she is, or who she used to be at least." Everyone blinked owlishly at the masked ninja. Sasuke of course just intensified his glare, and clasped his hands in front of his face.

Again the room was filled with an uncomfortable momentary silence. Sakura looked down at her food as tears filled her eyes. "Kakashi-sensei... what happened to... Naruto?" She squeezed her hands into fists as she squeezed her eyes shut. "I mean... we never even went out to find his... his body."

"Yeah," Sasuke said in a slightly subdued tone. "He may have been a dobe and everything, but we should've gone looking for him by now." Tazuna and his daughter Tsunami sighed in sadness as they thought of the boy that was supposedly dead. Inari, Tazuna's grandson and Tsunami's son, got up on shaky legs and left the room as silent tears streamed down his face.

"Listen you guys. Naruto..." Kakashi started to answer when the sound of Kamiko sighing stopped him.

"What does it matter to you guys what happened to him?" she asked in a bored tone as she placed down her chopsticks into an empty rice bowl. "He is dead. It doesn't really matter what happened to him."

Sakura slammed her hands down on to the table with anger in her eyes. "What do you mean it doesn't really matter?! He was our teammate! We deserve to know what happened to him!" She pointed at the girl with a shaking finger. "I don't know who you are, and I don't even care anymore. Say another word about Naruto and you'll regret it!"

"Oh will I now?" Kamiko's eyes narrowed dangerously at the pink haired girl. "Tell me, are you the one that's going to make me regret it?" Looking into the girl's grey eyes, Sakura's resolve quickly crumbled as she scooted away from her. Kamiko snorted. "I thought as much. What about you Duck Ass? Got anything you'd like to say?"

Sasuke clearly heard the challenge Kamiko's voice and didn't like it. His glare hardened even more and he stood up. "Unlike Sakura, I'll back up what I say. So say another thing about the dobe, and it'll be the last thing you do." In her mind, Sakura was aggressively cheering for Sasuke to just go ahead and smack the other girl around like silly.

"From the way you're talking, it sounds like I'm bad mouthing the guy when I'm not." Kamiko clasped her hands in her lap and titled her head. "All I'm saying is he's dead, but I guess you all deserve the truth in one way or another."

Tsunami looked at Kamiko with startled eyes. "What do you mean the truth? Is Naruto not dead?" Hope sprung into the eyes of Sakura and Tazuna.

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head as he joined the conversation. "Well technically he isn't dead, but in a sense Naruto is dead you see?"

"I don't get it," Tazuna said while crossing his arms as he cut Kakashi off before he could continue. "How can he not be dead but be dead?"

"Because, Naruto Uzumaki never existed," Kamiko said with a sigh. Everyone except Kakashi looked at the blond like she had grown a second head. "The boy that all of you have gotten to know was never really born. He was nothing more than a front for everyone to look at."

Sasuke shook with anger as Sakura shook her head. "You're lying. We've known that blond baka since he was five. There is no way he wasn't really. I've felt him!"

"Wrong," Kamiko yawned in boredom, "you hit before. There is a vast difference. You should be able to figure it out smart girl." Sakura's teeth clenched at the insult.

Sasuke snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yeah right. You just happen to be the one to know all of this. No one else at this table knew but you. Pretty convenient story if you ask me. You can't even say it was genjutsu since I got my Sharingan eye during our battle on the bridge. I would have seen through it then."

Kamiko pointed lazily at Kakashi who felt that any attempt to talk would lead to him being interrupted. "Kakashi-sensei knows the truth. Kakashi-sensei knows how you all powerful eye failed to tell you the truth." She looked at everyone and shrugged, deciding to just say it instead of messing with them. "Kakashi-sensei is one of the few people who know who Naruto really was?"

"And who was that?" Tsunami asked.

The blond haired girl smirked slightly and pointed at herself. "Naruto Uzumaki, was me."

**Flashback End**

The girl looked back at the workers and lazily kicked her legs. (Of course after that Tsunami and Tazuna took it all in strides while those two idiots just exploded.) It had taken a better part of an hour to get the two Genin to calm down enough to listen to anyone at the table. After that, Kakashi took them away to feed them a sugar coated reason for why Naruto was her and she was Naruto. Since then Sasuke has done nothing but glare at her, and Sakura keep a small amount of distance between the two of them.

_This is all way too bothersome to think about. I wonder what the Hokage-jiji is up to at the moment? Meh, probably paperwork._ Jumping down from her perch on top of a small shack by the bridge, Kamiko landed next to Sasuke, who glared at the large weapon strapped to her back, and walked over to Tazuna who was wiping sweat away from his forehead. "How much longer until this bridge is down Tazuna-san?"

Tazuna looked down at the girl and smiled. After getting used to her pretty quickly and had his daughter get her some clothes that were meant for a girl her age to wear. Not the blood stained jumpsuit she had yet to change out of. "Ah Kamiko-kun, we should be able to finish the bridge in two more days tops at this rate. How are you liking the clothes Tsunami gave you?"

Kamiko looked down at her clothes and shrugged. She wore a short sleeved black shirt with the end of the sleeves and the collar colored gray, and a pair of thin gray pants with the waistband colored black. "I don't have any complaints if that's what you're asking. They fit quite comfortably on me. I'll be sure to return them before we have to leave. Also I'm a girl, don't you mean -chan?"

The bridge builder waved her off as he smiled. "You were a boy when I meant you, and no need for that. Tsunami out grew those clothes when she was twelve years old, and Inari doesn't seem to want to wear them." He laughed as he looked at Kamiko's slight pout.

"I get it already I'm a little short. No need for you to point it out." The blond looked up at the sun in the sky. "Anyways, don't you think you guys should call a quits for the day? It is going to start getting dark soon." Tazuna thought for a moment before nodding to himself and walking over to the workers and telling them to pack up. Kamiko turned and looked over at the glaring Uchiha. "Yo Teme! We're done here for the day! You can go back now, I'll wait for Tazuna-san!" Sasuke grunted and walked off without a word. (Baka Teme!)

"That one seems to be even more of a handful than before," Tazuna observed as he walked back over to Kamiko.

"Tch, you're telling me. I never liked that guy one bit." She dispelled all of her clones and followed the man off of the bridge. "Sakura is no better than him. Any time I try even approach the girl she'll leave and ignore me. At least with Sasuke I know why he is acting this way." Tazuna gave her a questioning look and she shrugged. "Hurt pride. The Uchiha have an almost God complex. The fact that I have been able to deceive him for so long doesn't sit well with him one bit. Plus he's a major asshole."

Tazuna laughed heartily as he slapped Kamiko on the back. "That he is Kamiko-chan! That he is! Maybe he'll find a nice young girl to loosen him up some day!"

Kamiko sighed. _If so Ino and Sakura need to hurry their lazy asses up. I'm tired of that Teme giving me a damn headache._ The two talked about the bridge until they reached the house and were greeted by Tsunami setting up the table. "Ne, do you need any help with that Tsunami-san?"

Tsunami looked up and smiled with relief. "Oh yes Miko-chan. Could you cook the rice while I make the fish? I had Sakura doing it but...um..." Tsunami looked around nervously and sighed. "But that girl has practically no cooking skills what so ever. How do you set water on fire without any oil in it?!"

Kamiko snickered as she walked into the kitchen and grabbed a pot for the rice. She put water in it and then the rice while Tsunami started cutting the fish. As she stirred the pot gently with a wooden spoon she found, she pulled out three carrots she found and ran thunder the water. _This is really nice,_ she thought as she cut up the carrots. She placed the small pieces into the the rice with a small hidden smile. After watching the rice for a while she turned to Tsunami who just finished cooking the fish. "But how? I just finished the rice. How could you have already finished the rice?"

Tsunami giggled. "Oh that's a secret Miko-chan. I can't have people running around finishing the fish just as fast as me now can I? Now how about you go sit at the table? I'll bring the food out in a moment myself." Kamiko laughed silently as she walked out of the kitchen leaving a clone behind to help carry in the food.

She wasn't the first one to the table. Kakashi and Sasuke were whispering an argument while Tazuna was already downing a bottle of cheap alcohol he bought. Sakura and Inari weren't to be seen at the table just yet. For a moment the girl considered interrupting the argument between teacher and student, but didn't feel like dealing with Sasuke's brooding any more than was necessary.

Sitting at the table, she ran her hand over the handle of the large weapon on her back. Something she has found herself doing quite a lot of boredom. The weapon hadn't belonged to her very long, but she found herself attached to it like it was always hers. Her training with has only been the bare basics of all sword training. Swinging the sword down and overhead to stop them at certain points, turning the blade sides and slicing it horizontally across her chest starting from her back, and again swing her sword overhead and diagonally across her body at certain points. She rarely put it all together, even though it was highly recommended to do so. Kamiko decided to wait until she had a real teacher to show her how to properly use her weapon.

Sighing, Kakashi sat next to her and gave her an eye smile. An unhappy Sasuke sat across from them and proceeded to glare at the empty bowl before him. "So how has your training been going Kamiko-chan?" Kakashi asked kindly.

The girl shrugged in response. "I don't know really. It's not like I have someone to show me what to do sensei. I have to find someone for that after we get back to the village."

Nodding, Kakashi sent an eye smile to Sakura who walked into the room. Sakura returned the smile and quickly sat by Sasuke who inched away from the girl. "Maybe I can help you with that," Kakashi said after pulling out his little orange book. "I know few good kenjutsu artists in the village. I'm sure one of them would be able to find time to train you."

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei." Kamiko smiled as Inari made his way into the room and sat next to her. "How are you Inari?"

The young boy looked up at Kamiko with a toothy grin. "Good Kamiko-neechan! The other kids are starting to hang around me again."

The girl patted his head before snatching the blue hat off of it. "That's all fine and good, but don't forget. No hats at the table." Kakashi snickered at Kamiko's mother like words before she sent him a hard glare. After Kakashi stopped laughing, the blond girl looked at Sakura. For just a moment their eyes met before Sakura quickly looked away.

Growing irritated with the girl, Kamiko was about to call out her name when Tsunami and her clone swept in with the food. "I hope nobody minds, but I added some chopped celery to the fish." Deflating slightly, Kamiko smiled at Tsunami as the food was placed in front of her. The women skipped Tazuna before sitting down with her own food.

The old man looked at his daughter indignantly as she began eating. "Um, Tsunami, I think you forgot about me," he chuckled.

Tsunami didn't even look at the man. "No I didn't. You know how I feel about you drinking before I have even brought out the food." The man garbled nonsense before standing up to get his own food.

Kamiko laughed as he wobbled off. "Maybe you should just hide the alcohol from him Tsunami-san. That way he can't be tempted by it." Everyone laughed or chuckled at the sudden crashing and cursing they heard from the kitchen.

After he came back everyone calmed down a small amount, but Sakura seemed put off for some reason. "I thought you didn't talk at the table until you finished eating." Sakura said to Kamiko lowly as she slowly ate her food. The fresh joy in the room was quickly snuffed by the girl's tone of voice.

Looking at her teammate, Kamiko wondered about the girl. She pointed down at her empty rice bowl and fish plate. "As you can she Haruno-san, I have finished eating already. I would appreciate it if you didn't try calling me a liar."

Sakura continued to stare at her food. "But then I would be calling you what you are."

A chill ran through the room as Kamiko's glare hardened. She pushed her nails into her open palm under the table to keep from launching herself at the poor child across from her. "Oh really now. So I'm a liar huh." The blond smiled sweetly at the pink haired girl. "What gives you the right to call me anything but my name?"

The chill in the room seemed to heighten, but only Sakura seemed to be suffer its effects. The girl's teeth were chattering, and her body was shaking. Her skin ever seemed to visibly be turning a light blue to those around her. It was if she had stepped into her own personal frozen hell and couldn't find a way out. Her breath hitch every time she tried to breath, and the air felt to think in her throat to go down.

Just as Sakura was about to snap, it all disappeared making her fall back against the wall behind her. Looking up, Sakura saw Kamiko's chilling grin and regretted her words.

"That was uncalled for," Kakashi said seriously to Kamiko with a frown. "Directing ki like that is for your enemies, not your allies." The girl frowned as she cut a look at her sensei before huffing in annoyance. "The same goes for you Sakura," Kakashi said in a softer tone. "Kamiko-chan has her reasons for not revealing herself before now. Try to understand that her life could have been much worse if everyone had known she was not a boy." Sakura nodded as she went back to eating, unable to stop her constant shivering.

Swallowing, Sakura tried to amend her words. "Well... I mean... how about you tell us about yourself? You know, like when we were first put together as a team." Sasuke stopped eating and looked at Kamiko with eyes that said he thought the same.

"That sounds reasonable don't you think Miko-chan?" Tsunami smiled at Kamiko trying to help destroy the tension between the three teammates.

"How troublesome," Kamiko sighed with a chuckle as she thought of the only other person in their age group that knew the truth about her. "Well my name is Uzumaki Rin Kamiko. I like ramen, training, and learning new jutsu. My dislikes are people who judge others without knowing all the facts, arrogant guys, the color pink, and... molesters and rapist. Hobbies are training, painting, and burning things people don't care about. My dream is to be one of history's strongest kunoichis and to become the Hokage of the village someday."

Everyone found one or two things new that they liked or disliked about the girl, and they all(except Inari) caught her pause towards the end of her dislikes. The question hung in the air, but no one dared ask it out of respect.

"So you paint Miko-chan? Are you any good?"

For a moment, Kamiko looked at Tsunami blankly before pulling open her shirt and reaching done into it. Sakura and Tsunami yelled as Kakashi chuckled, Tazuna covered Inari's eyes, and he and Sasuke looked away with blushes. "What do you think you are doing!? There are guys around her!"

Kamiko shrugged as if that fact didn't bother them. "It doesn't matter. I have wraps on so they wouldn't see anything they shouldn't. I mean, it's not even like I am taking my shirt off here." For a moment she rummaged around in her shirt before pulling out a palm sized pallet. She placed it in the middle of the table carefully for everyone to see.

Breathes hitched for all as they looked at the picture. It was Konoha at sunset from what appeared to be the top of the Hokage Monument. All the buildings were exactly the way they were now. The only difference was a small building that used to belong to Orochimaru far before he betrayed the village.

Kakashi gently lifted the pallet in wonder. "Amazing Kamiko-chan, this painting has to be at least seven years old. That small building here was torn done just six years ago"

Tsunami gingerly took it from him, and gently rub the side of the pallet. "Professional artist would envy this painting Miko-chan. All they colors blend perfectly together, but somehow still standout individually. And... is the a man on this building here?"

Looking at it, Sakura gasped. "That's the Third Hokage! You caught the Third in a picture!?"

Kamiko twisted a strand of hair near her shoulder uncertainly. "Well he was just standing there. What else was I supposed to do? Leave that spot blank or something?"

"There's even a few leaves in the wind," Sasuke mumbled to no one in particular.

Tsunami handed the painting back to Kakashi, who gave it back to Kamiko, who placed in back into her shirt. "That was amazing Miko-chan. If Kakashi is serious about that picture, you had to have been only six or seven when you made this. And you still paint?" Kamiko nodded. "Wow."

* * *

After the painting had been seen, things just seemed to relax for everyone in the house. Sakura could be found actively talking to the girl like they were lifelong friends many times. Sasuke was still a selfish prick, but the guy wasn't demanding anything of the girl like he had originally planned upon finding out she had inherited everything from Zabuza. He found he had great respect for his blond teammate, and thought it better just to make use of her powers instead of taking them from them.

By the time they were standing on the completed bridge, the three Genin found things were the way they used to be for them if not slightly better. They waved, as they followed Kakashi away, to the cheering crowd of Wave villagers. "You think they'll remember any of us?" Sakura said as they turned away from the people.

"Who knows," Kakashi said into his book, "but what really matters is that they know they are truly free." Sasuke and Kamiko nodded in agreement.

Tazuna smiled as he watched them walk away before turning to his people. "Well, now we need to name this bridge any suggestions?"

"Name it after you Tazuna!"

"No way! It has to be named the Supreme Bridge!"

"What about the Wave Bridge!?"

"How about Salvations Bridge!"

Tsunami smiled as a name came to her. "How about the boy that never was that brought peace to this village. The Great Naruto. The Great Naruto Bridge." People slowly nodded their heads in the agreement as the name started t catch on. Soon it was being chanted in an off key fashion.

Tazuna smiled and looked at it. "Yeah. The Great Maelstrom Bridge." The cheers for the name were deafening.

...

...

...

...

... Kakashi-sensei... did you even look for my ribbon...

... Huh?..

* * *

**A/N: Hope you all enjoyed the chapter and find it right to review. I wonder if any of you can make that picture. Until next my friends!**


	3. Chpt III: Return

Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki were completely bored out of their minds. They had been on gate duty for the past month due to a single screw up just that long ago. Izumo looked at his friend and sighed. While he was tired of guarding the gate since nothing ever happened at, Kotetsu was just fine lunging around and doing nothing at the gate with no real expectations of him. Izumo could never understand his mentality and never would.

Just as he was about to strike up a conversation with his partner, he saw four figures in the distance walking towards the gate. He squinted to just make out the form of Kakashi reading his book as he led his team back to the village. "Hey Kotetsu, look who has finally got back."

Kotetsu grumbled as he sat up from his resting position. When he saw Kakashi and the others, a grin broke out on to his face. "Hey you guys! How was the mission!?" he yelled out to the oncoming ninja before his smile slowly fell as the came closer. "Eh, Kakashi, where's Naruto and who's the cute little girl you guys brought back with you." He gave Kamiko a quick once over and his eyes widened. "And why does that girl have one of the Legendary Seven Swords!?"

Kakashi gave the man his trademark eye smile before walking past them. "Don't worry about it you guys. Nothing bad happened, but you might find out sooner or later." Sasuke and Sakura walked past them as well with the girl following behind them.

"Huh, I wonder what that was about," Kotetsu mused as he leaned back into a comfortable position deciding to forget about the large weapon on the girl's back.

Izumo nodded his head in agreement before smiling. "Yeah, didn't know you were a lolicon though Kotetsu." His friend sputters as he fell backwards.

* * *

"Those guys need to get a life," Kamiko said as she looked back on them as Izumo was laughing. "You'd think that they liked just hanging around the gate."

Kakashi nodded his head. "Those two just can't seem to get their act together. Though don't underestimate them Kamiko-chan, they strong."

"I'm not talking to you," Kamiko said emotionlessly before walking past everyone to the Hokage Tower.

"Wow. Was the ribbon that important to her or something?" Sakura asked as they let her get a small ways ahead of them.

"Unfortunately yes," Kakashi sighed, "and Kamiko can hold a pretty long grudge Sakura-chan." The girl suddenly shivered for some unknown reason.

Sasuke snorted. "What's so important about a freaking ribbon? Just get another one just like it."

"That's not possible Sasuke-kun. You see, that ribbon isn't just a ribbon. It's not really even a ribbon at all, but a piece of clothing that Hokage-sama was able to salvage."

"Salvage from where?" Sakura asked as Sasuke thought the question.

Kakashi looked up with a sad expression on his face before looking at Kamiko's bouncing hair. "He salvaged it from a piece of Kamiko's mother's clothing. What was left of it that is." Sakura's eyes widened as Sasuke glared at Kakashi suddenly understanding the true importance of that ribbon.

"You sicken me sensei. Sicken me," he said. Kakashi sighed as Sasuke and Sakura walked ahead of him as well. The man was starting to wonder if his Icha Icha was becoming too much of a distraction for him to work properly. No need to say the thought didn't last very long as he found it impossible.

Eventually the four found themselves standing before a somewhat irritated Hokage in his office after they gave their report of their mission. Hizuren's old face seemed to bore holes into Kakashi's sweating face. "So you are telling that you encounter the Demon Brothers and still continued?" Everyone nodded. "You were confronted by the A-Rank missing ninja, Zabuza Momochi, and still continued?" Again everyone nodded. "That after a fight with Zabuza's apprentice, Haku, Kamiko-chan decided to forgo her disguise from then on?" Kakashi and Kamiko nodded. "And YOU'RE telling me that you didn't find Kamiko's ribbon?" He said the last part to Kakashi making the man feel like a disappointment.

"I was busy taking care of the needs of the mission," Kakashi tried to defend.

"From what you said that wasn't needed. The mission was practically over after the death of Gato." Hizuren shook his head. "But no matter, what's lost is lost. There is nothing to be done about it. I'll send pay for your first A-Rank mission straight to you accounts."

After a short round of "hais", the Hokage dismissed everyone in the room except Kamiko. "You need something Hokage-jiji," she said with a smile that could warm an icebergs heart.

"Why yes Kamiko-chan. I actually need you to come with me to see Doctor Yuji and Doctor Yukai. You missed you last appointment with them, and your next one is soon approaching."

The blonde nodded her head while twirling a strand of her hair as the Hokage stood to lead her to her doctors. Originally Doctor Yuji and Doctor Yukai were both in Konoha's main hospital. After an unfortunate attempt on Kamiko's, life via the hospital's medical staff, the two were chosen to become the girl's personal doctors as they showed they had no hate for the young girl. There was another doctor, but that is for another time.

Hizuren led Kamiko through a secret passage the Hokages used when they needed quick and easy access to one of the hospitals in the village. After a few minutes of silent walking, the two found themselves in a hidden room just under the hospital structure.

"I'll be right back Kamiko-chan," Hizuren smiled. "I'll bring Yuji and Yukai back to check you in just a moment." Kamiko smiled her understanding as the man left.

The room he left her in was about the size of the Hokage's office with steel lining its walls and keeping the room chilled. There was a small two seat couch in the corner of the room with a small circular glass table and a lamp next to it. There were a number of paintings hung around the room of different animals, people, and shots of Konoha. Each one of them belonging to the young kunoichi. A person could trace her progress as a painter in this one room, though she carried her best work with her at all times.

Kamiko was looking at one of her early paintings of herself in the mirror, thinking she would remake it, when the Hokage returned back with the doctors. "Ah, Miko-chan your home!" the two women said before quickly engulfing the girl into a tight hug.

She giggled as she hugged them back. "It's nice to see you guys too. I was only gone for like a month you know?"

Yukai shook her head as she tapped her foot with crossed arms. The women was average height and in her late twenties. She had short, light auburn hair with kind brown eyes that seemed to compliment her pale skin. In the standard doctor's outfit, one could say the women did well, but not too well in the chest department and was quite slender. "And yet we haven't seen you in almost two."

Yuji nodded her head in agreement. She was slightly shorter than Yukai and in her earlier thirties. Her hair waved down to her shoulders in a dark black, and her eyes were the same as Yukai's. The women's body was lightly plump with all the curves in the right places. "Yeah, you may only have to see us once a month, but that doesn't mean you can't visit us young lady."

Kamiko scratched the back of her head. "Sorry about that you guys. I had just been caught up in my team ya know. I so would have come seen you guys if it wasn't for that."

"Fine we believe you. Now you out of your clothes," they said together while pointing at her before turning to the Hokage, "and you out."

Hizuren chuckled. "Right, right. After you are all rested up Kamiko-chan go see Anko. I'm sure she would love to take you out shopping for women's clothes now that you won't be using male clothing anymore."

"I won't?" she asked. The three adults in the room just sighed before the Hokage left. (Why do I need a change of clothes? These clothes still fit me perfectly.) Shrugging, Kamiko decided to ask Anko when she went to see her later. Soon the girl was sitting on the edge of a bed in the middle of the room in just her chest wrappings.

"Those too Miko-chan," Yuji said as she looked at Kamiko.

The young girl's face suddenly heated up. "W-why would I need to take these off Yuji-chan? I never had to take them off before."

Yukai lifted her hand in the air as her other one shifted around in a bag. "Easy Miko-chan. You are getting older and will, if you already haven't, start to develop. The wraps were decoration up until now." Kamiko hesitated before turning her back on the older women. She quickly undid the wraps before covering her chest in an uncharacteristic show of embarrassment. "Miko-chan turn around so we can start."

The girl turned around while still covering her chest. The sight was cute to the doctors as Kamiko's face was as read as could be and was looking away from them with a clearly developing chest. "C-can't I just k-keep my arms like this?"

The two women just rolled their eyes before beginning there inspection of the girl's body. The checkup didn't last long. They found nothing wrong with the girl other than the fact that even for a girl, she was short for age. The two chalked it up to genetics or something.

Just as they were finishing, they girl flew off the body holding her chest. "What the fuck are you trying to do to me!? I thought you like Yukai-chan Yuji-chan!?"

Yukai laughed as Yuji sighed in defeat with a hand outstretched in front of her. "I was only trying to get a small feel to see if she was firm. Didn't think she'd react like that so fast."

Grabbing her clothes, Kamiko quickly got dressed why glaring at Yuji. "So not necessary. I'll see you guys later. I need to go see Anko-chan now." The women waved as Kamiko ran out the room and through the hospital.

"So..."

"...firm...she'll grow big..."

"Ah...does this make us pedophiles..."

"...you didn't touch her..."

* * *

The next day found Kamiko standing in Training Ground 11 with Sasuke, Sakura, Team 8, and Team 10. The nine Genin stood or sat, or even laid in the case of one, in a semi-circle as they waited for all of their Jōnin senseis. Each one of them had woken up with a note for them to go to Training Ground 11.

"What do you think they have us all gathered here for?" Choji asked as he munched on a bag of chips.

His best friend Shikamaru sighed as he stared up at the sky. "Who knows Choji, and to be honest I don't think that is the question we should be asking." Everyone around him nodded before looking at Kamiko who stared blankly back at them.

"What?" she said dully. She was wearing another pair of clothes from Tsunami since she was unable to find Anko the other day.

Ino stepped forward and pointed at her. "Who the hell are you?"

"And where is Naruto-kun?" Hinata chimed in as she looked around for her blond crush.

Tilting her head, Kamiko pointed at herself. "Naruto is right here Hinata-san." Sasuke snorted as Sakura frowned at Kamiko for telling them not to say anything.

"Oh, this is your Sexy Jutsu, but shorter and with clothes on," Kiba said drawing Ino's attention.

"Wow, it has some sort of intelligence after all."

"What you say bitch!?"

"Bitch!?"

The two got in each other's faces just before Shino's bugs did the same and forced the two apart. "Don't do that dude. It's really creepy." Shino just shrugged at his teammate before turning to Kamiko.

"You're not Naruto," Shikamaru said. "What's your name?"

Kamiko sighed and continued pointing at herself. "My name is Uzumaki Kamiko, but you guys know me as Uzumaki Naruto. Why is that so hard to believe?"

"Because me and Naruto have had pissing contest together!" Kiba said drawing disturbed looks from everyone. "What? We were kids back then!"

"Yeah right. I knew you and Naruto had something going on," Ino snickered.

"Bitch!"

"I'll kill you!"

"Oh for the love of Kami I can't do this anymore." Everyone turned to Shikamaru who was rubbing his temples. "She's telling the truth. The girl has been running around disguised as the blond idiot you got to know alright? Now shut up I'm trying to sleep."

Kamiko pouted as she looked at the lazy genius. "Aw man Shika. I was having fun messing with them."

"Troublesome blond," he replied. "I was getting a headache and this just started. It was going to get worse."

"Wait, wait, wait. So this girl really is Naruto!?" Ino said shocked to receive a nod from Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Sakura. "And the three of you knew the entire time and didn't tell us!?"

Sakura waved her hands in front of her. "No way Ino-bunta! Me and Sasuke found out on our last mission when she decided she wasn't going to hide herself anymore." She shifted her gaze on Ino into a glare on Shikamaru. "Him though, I have no idea how he knew about her."

Shikamaru looked up at three accusing glares, a pair of curious eyes, and a pair of shades. "How troublesome. I met her when she was still walking around as a girl. I only remember because of her nickname for me back then."

"Which was?.." Everyone looked at Kamiko who smiled brightly.

"Lazy Pineapple Man of course!" Sakura and Ino promptly fell out laughing at the ridiculously funny name as Sasuke snickered and Choji patted Shikamaru's shoulder. Shikamaru seemed to be mumbling something about annoying blondes, but only Choji could hear him.

Hinata was standing staring at the others with blank eyes. _I still like her... does that make me gay? Father really won't accept this._

Kiba was banging his head on the trunk of a tree. _She's seen me naked. She's seen me naked. She's seen me naked. She's seen..._

Shino was watching Kamiko laugh with the other girls with a hidden smirk. _Ha, I knew I wasn't gay._

As the laughing girls began to calm down, their Jōnin senseis finally appeared. "Sorry we're late you guys. We had... Kiba-san what are you doing?" Kurenai looked at the boy like he was insane.

He slowly turned his head as a small trail of blood leaked down the middle of his forehead. "She's seen me naked." A blank stare was all any of the Jōnin had to offer the boy.

Asuma shook his head. "As Kurenai-san was saying we had to... who is that?" He pointed his finger at Kamiko as the Genin sighed. Sighing, Shikamaru decided to roll over to his sensei and explain the situation leaving both Kurenai and Asuma to stare at Kamiko confused.

"Look," Kakashi said as he read his porn, "We all had to attend a meeting before coming to you all." He pulled out three papers that he held out lazily to his students. "We nominated all nine of you for this year's Chūnnin Selection Exams in Konoha next month. You need to sign this and report to the academy in two weeks to if you want to attend." Flicking the papers away, the masked Jōnin left.

Kurenai stared heatedly at the spot Kakashi had been standing in while Asuma just shrugged. "Well, I have nothing to add to that. Come to me if you have any questions." He placed all of his team's papers in Choji's hands before walking off. Kurenai's fist clenched as she shook her head at the two Jōnins lack of fully explaining the situation to their students. Signaling her students to follow her, Kurenai left while mumbling about lazy asses.

After getting a paper from Choji, who went to sit by Shikamaru, Ino walked over to Sakura and Kamiko. "So, you've seen Kiba naked huh?" she asked while smirking.

As Sakura's face became heated from the thoughts of a naked Kiba, Kamiko just shrugged. "Yeah. I mean, I've technically have seen all the guys except Shino and Sasuke naked. And let me tell you, you're not missing much if you never see Kiba naked." Ino fell down laughing as Sakura slumped to the ground mentally scarred.

Ino slowly recovered from her laughter and stared up at Kamiko with a grin. "How did you hide all of that hair of yours Kamiko? There's no way we could have missed it. I mean look at it! If I take out my ponytail I still don't have that much hair!"

Kamiko puckered her lips slightly. "I had a ribbon that was given to me as a present to help tie my hair into itself without tangling it."

"That's pretty cool. What did you do with the ribbon?" Gloomy air suddenly appeared around Kamiko who was now leaning against a tree. A small wavering smile played across her face as she chuckled on and off.

"That ribbon is ground zero bunta," Sakura whispered furiously into her ear. "She lost it on our last mission during the battle and asked Kakashi-sensei to help her find it. The guy flat out refused the girl and almost made her cry from what she told me."

Ino's eyes widened. "Forehead, are you kidding me? You better not be kidding me." Sakura shook her head. "Damn, I can't wait for Kurenai-sensei to hear about this. What else happen? Details! Details!"

Kamiko watched from a distance as Sakura and Ino huddled together. She tried to hear what they were saying, but all she heard was, 'gossip gossip gossip gossip gossip gossip gossip gossip'. (I wonder what they are talking about over there.)

She watched them until she finally got tired of trying to listen to them. She thought about walking over to the boys, but didn't find a reason to. Seeing as there was nothing for her to do, and she was just waiting for the others to leave so she could train, Kamiko resolved to take a nap on one of the trees, but it was as soon as she sat down that Ino and Sakura appeared in front of her with expectant gazes. "Um... hi?"

Sakura squinted at the girl. "I've been somewhat distracted for a while, but now is a better time to ask than never."

Ino nodded her head. "Yeah, so tell us Kamiko who do you like?"

Kamiko stared blankly at the two girls before her. Just as she was going to say it was none of their business a thought struck her. Blushing, Kamiko looked over at Sasuke several times. "Well... you see..."

Ino and Sakura's eyes widened in horror. "Oh no you don't!" they yelled in unison. "Sasuke-kun is my man!"

"Shut up Ino-bunta! Sasuke is mine! Didn't you get that when I got paired with him and not you!?" Sakura turned her glare on the platinum blond next to her.

Ino crossed her arms. "That doesn't mean anything in the face of love Forehead! My love for Sasuke-kun far out ways yours!"

"That's what you think! Why just the other day Sasuke-kun was telling me how good of a kunoichi I was!"

"Oh bullshit. You aren't even half the kunoichi I am!"

"As if you're a better kunoichi than me!"

"Arrgh! Forehead!"

"Bunta!"

"Forehead!"

"Bunta!"

"Forehead!"

"Bunta!"

"Ushi!"

Sakura's eyes widen at the insult before going red at the face. "You bitch! How dare you!?" Launching herself, Sakura tackled Ino to the ground. The two rolled, punched, and pulled at each other's hair until they heard a soft laughter.

Looking up, they noticed that Kamiko was bent over at the waste and was trying to contain her giggles. "What's so funny?" Ino huffed while sporting a bruise on her cheek.

Sakura glared at her with a blackened eye. "Yeah, what do you have to laugh about?"

Kamiko bit the inside of her cheek as her chuckles shook her body. "Oh nothing, just that you two fell for that so damn easily."

The two girls stared at Kamiko blankly. "Wh-what..?

"Pfft. I don't even like the teme. There's no way he could be a love interest for me. That boy is a pansy anyways." Kamiko laughed as Sasuke glared at her from a distance.

"How can you say that about someone as great as Sasuke-kun!?" Sakura exclaimed.

"Easy, he's just not my type." That blond shrugged her shoulders.

Ino nodded her head. "That's understandable. Then what is your type if not Sasuke's type?"

A smile played across Kamiko's face as another joke formed in her mind. "Come here and I'll whisper it in your ear Ino." Nodding, the other blond scooted closer. "Well, Sasuke isn't my type because..."

"Because wh..." Ino was cut off mid-sentence as Kamiko's lips smashed on to hers. The girl's eyes widened as Kamiko's hands rose on to her shoulders. Sakura's jaw dropped as she watched both girls fall to the ground with both their lips still locked. Kamiko rolled on top of Ino and pinned the girls hands beside her head.

In the beginning Ino struggled to push her fellow blond off of her, but she soon started to calm down. Her eyes slowly closed before she began kissing Kamiko back and wrapped her fingers into the other girl's.

Ino began to moan as Kamiko pushed her tongue into her mouth and wrapped around hers. Her moans reached the ears of the three remaining boys who turned to be shocked by the sight. Choji dropped his bag of chips on Shikamaru's head who decided it was definitely time to leave. Sasuke blinked rapidly before covering his eyes while activating his Sharingan.

Kamiko's hands began to roam across Ino's body and squeezed on to her breast. The girl gasped as her back arched and her body began to shake. Her shakes lasted for a minute before she finally relaxed completely.

"That," Kamiko said in a sweet voice as she pulled away from Ino's lips, "is why Sasuke isn't my type. Ino-chan~" bouncing up off the half conscious girl, Kamiko skipped off to find Shikamaru.

Sasuke watched Kamiko leave while Sakura and Choji stared at Ino. Her hand slowly traced her lips as a lazy smile played across her lips. "Wow... that was the hottest kiss I've ever had." She stood and stumbled her way back home while still tracing her lips.

_The mental scars... Was it really that good of a kiss?_

_Damn, she had to be gay didn't she?_

_That was hot... gotta have a camera next time. Now where did my chips go?_

...

...

...

..._I was supposed to be training wasn't I. Oh well._ "Lazy Pineapple Man!"

_Damn troublesome blondes..._

* * *

**A/N: Sorry that the chapter is short and kinda lacking in... a lot of stuff, but I hope you enjoyed none-the-less. Until next time meh friends.**


	4. Chpt IV: Exams Begin

**A/N: I hope you enjoy this long awaited chapter. Oh and to any and all Patriot fans, we have a fucking amazing team to root for in this years Super Bowl. (EDITED)**

* * *

It was a warm sunny day in Konoha, with only a few scattered clouds hanging in the sky. The civilians of the village could tell it would be a good day to go out and just enjoy themselves. Though who cares about the civilians and what they are doing. Not I and hopefully not you.

Walking towards the outskirts of a large barbed wired fence, Kamiko sat on a fallen log silently. She pulled out an orange from a bag she had brought with her and slowly began to peel away its soft shell. As she pulled away at the orange, the girl softly hummed to herself.

_Ah. Could there be a better start to my day than this? None of the villagers caused me any trouble this morning. No annoying teammates have showed up to bother me. And I can eat my orange here in nice silent peace while I wait._ Nodding to herself, Kamiko finished peeling her orange just as it was snatched out of her hand. For only a second she sat motionless as a smile sat frozen on her face before it slowly turned down into a dangerous frown. "Bitch who stole my FUCKING orange better get your FUCKING ass out here before I come hunting for my DAMN food!"

Slowly coming out of the cover of the tree she was in, Anko looked wide-eyed at Kamiko. "Uh, damn Kamiko-chan. I was just messing with you," Anko chuckled as she reached out and dropped the orange she snatched. "If I had known you'd go all psycho bitch on me I'd have just said hello."

Kamiko caught the falling peeled orange in an outstretched hand and smirked up at Anko. "Well maybe next time you'll think before you try to steal a girl's food." Frowning, Anko drops from the tree she was in and glared into the younger girl's smirking face. At first look it seemed like the two girls would soon be coming to blows before much longer, but soon two large goofy grins broke out on to both of their faces as they suddenly hugged each other. "Ah, its nice to see you again Anko-oneechan," Kamiko said happily.

Anko chuckled and roughly ruffled the young Genin's hair. "Yeah, its been kind of boring without you around Gaki, and what did I tell you about calling me 'oneechan'? Just neechan will do just fine you know."

Stepping out of the hug and covering her sly smile while looking away, Kamiko chuckled. "But you are my older sister oneechan. My much older sister." Anko's eye twitch at the small jab Kamiko was making at her. The young red head knew that Anko wasn't that old, but also knew that her age was a sore subject for her along with a certain two other kunoichi in the village.

After Kamiko stopped chuckling, she began peeling off pieces of her orange and swallowing them. "You know you're supposed to chew your food first right?" Anko asked with a raised eyebrow as the young girl just shrugged in response.

Hopping atop the fallen log she had been sitting on, Kamiko swallowed the rest of her orange in one go and did a little twirl. "Anyways I was looking for you Anko-oneechan. I tried to find you a few days ago, but it was like you were hiding from me or something." After blinking for a moment, Kamiko looked at Anko with fake tears in her eyes and trembling lips. "Y-You weren't trying t-to avoid me were y-you Oneechan?"

Going wide eyed, Anko rushed over to Kamiko and tried to placate the young kunoichi. "What?! No! I wasn't trying to avoid you Gaki. I just got stuck with a mission until I got back just yesterday. Come on, don't go crying on me out here." Grabbing the girl's shoulders, Anko shook her. "What did you want? You wanted something right? We can go do it right now no matter what it is." Anko quickly realized her mistake as a devious smile quickly spread across Kamiko's face. Slowly the expression on Anko's face turned from that of slight worry to a blank stare into the distance as she began to regret her words. "Fucking hell..." she whispered as she felt a sudden pain in her pocket.

* * *

After a few hours of running about and going from one store to the next, Kamiko kicked open the door to her house and waltzed in with three clones following in behind her. She merrily swung the one bag that was in her hand about as she went into her kitchen with a smile on her face. "Set everything on the counter and then you three can go do whatever until you get bored alright?" Smiling happily, the three copies of Kamiko set down the three bags that each of them carried before hurrying out of the room. "They're like little kids... wait..." Kamiko said with a slight chuckle before she noticed that she was talking about herself in a way since they were her.

Shaking her head, Kamiko climbed a top the table in the middle of her kitchen and sat down with closed eyes as she began to meditate. When she opened her eyes she found herself in a forest that would resemble the time of Autumn to most, but to Kamiko just looked like a dead forest. Dried leaves littered the ground in an assortment of different colors with the majority of them being black. The trees were all completely bare and looked more frail than any ball of glass had ever been looked upon as. The girl sighed as she began her trek deep into the dead forest.

The walk didn't last very long. After a couple of turns and a few stops to push aside a fallen tree, Kamiko found herself standing at the edge of a clearing that was the only area that had any greenery what so ever. Slowly from where she stood, grass could be seen starting to grow until it finally reached the point that it formed a circular yard around the one tree in the clearing. This tree, unlike all the others that had been seen thus far, was as healthy as could be. While most of the trees were about three to four times as tall as Kamiko was, the tree before her now was more than triple the height of any of the other average trees. It's bark was a dark brown that looked like even an axe made of pure diamond would be unable to cut it down. It's branches were cluttered with lush green leaves on practically every inch of them. It was the one area in the entire forest that was not completely dead and gave the young woman a feeling of comfort.

After just looking at the beautiful scene for a minute, Kamiko walked over to the tree before she began a slow trek up its trunk. The girl took her time and just absorbed the beautiful leaves and let the sight fill her with a happiness that few other things in the world could do. As she broke through into the leafy tree, Kamiko closed her eyes until she no longer felt the leaves caressing her skin. **"Hello Kamiko,"** a soft voice that would put Hinata's voice to same said, **"it is so nice of you to visit me."**

Smiling softly, Kamiko opened her eyes. Tilting her head slightly up, the young woman found herself looking into one of the most beautiful faces, outlined with red hair so bright it was practically glowing, that she had ever seen. "Hello Kurama-chan," Kamiko said as she walked forward, "it has been awhile since I last visited you so I thought I would just drop by if that is fine with you."

Kurama smiled at the young woman as she approached. Kurama was a tall woman who always wore a black dress that covered everything but her hands. her aforementioned hair was usually found being completely straight and flowing all the way down her back. Her eyes were just as bright a red as her hair if not brighter than it. Her smile was always something that made Kamiko feel happy. **"You know you are always welcomed her my child. You never need to worry about whether or not I'm going to want you around."**

"I know that Kura-chan, but it doesn't hurt to check neh?" Kamiko said with a small wink as she sat in the lap of the taller women and looked into her face. "How have you been? The tree has gotten much fuller since the last time I came in here to visit you."

Kurama chuckled as she ran a hand through Kamiko's blond hair. **"I have been doing quite well Miko-chan. You know that this area is all your doing. This tree and the grass that is growing around it, it all represents the positives that you feel with in you. The fact that it has grown as much as it has since you graduated the Ninja Academy is quite remarkable Miko-chan."**

"Yeah maybe," Kamiko chuckled as she tried not to think about the rest of the forest surrounding the one lush tree. "I really owe it to Haku from the mission to Nami no Kuni. If I hadn't had met him I would probably still be hiding myself away as that idiot Naruto." Kamiko made slightly disgusted face as she thought of her false persona that was nothing less than horrible to keep up.

Kurama shook her head and kissed Kamiko's forehead. **"Now you need to give yourself some credit every now and then Miko-chan. Not only that, but I don't think that Naruto was that bad."** Kamiko gave the woman a strange look that said she was insane. **"What? I kinda liked the personality that you gave him. That never say die attitude that he had and the confidence that he expelled was quite enjoyable. Someone like that could have a story written about then with a tv show and movies to boot."**

Kamiko shook her head and snorted. "As if anyone would waste valuable time in their life to write a story about some stupid kid like that. I bet they would probably make the kid appear gayer than a fucking rainbow with Sasuke or someone like that too I bet. Next you're going to tell me that you would be sealed in him as a male with only have half of your full chakra instead of all of it and still be called a fucking badass."

A knock to the head shut the girl up before she could say anymore. **"What have I told you about that mouth of yours while you're in this tree Uzumaki Kamiko. This is the purest place in your entire world, so you don't need to go sullying it with that vulgar language of yours do you understand?"** Kamiko nodded as Kurama chuckled. **"Good as long as you understand that."**

After that the two woman entered into a comfortable silence. Kamiko let her eyes close as she relaxed into Kurama's body. The soft blow of the wind began to swirl around them as Kurama wrapped her arms around the young woman and began to hum softly in her ear. It was a slow tune that seemed to rise and fall like the waves of the ocean and flow like wind current in the sky. It had the power to calm even the angriest beast down from a horrible rage. As she hummed on, Kamiko snuggled into the woman and thought about how the two first met, but quickly shut the memory down as it was too painful for her too think of. Unfortunately, just the thought of the memory was enough to ruin the girl's good mood and unknowingly kill the outer edge of the yard surrounding the tree.

"Kura-chan," Kamiko said softly as she slightly opened her eyes and tears began to flow out of them. "Will I ever get better?"

Sighing, Kurama squeezed the girl in arms into her tightly. **"Of course,"** Kurama whispered into the girl's hair. **"It's going to take time, just like everything in the world will take some amount of time, but it will get better."** Kamiko nodded but began to shake until she felt something soft wrap around her body. Looking down, she saw three red tails covering her body as a fourth tail cupped her face and Kurama placed her cheek onto the top of Kamiko's head and began to sing.

_Guilty Crown - Euterpe (**A/N: I suggest you just listen to the song it's lovely.**)_

**Saita no no hana yo _ Oh wild flower,_**

**Aa douka oshieteokure _ ah…could you please tell me_**

**Hito ha naze kizutsukeatte _why people hurt each other_**

**Arasou no deshou _and fight each other?_**

**Rin to saku hana yo _Oh dignified flower,_**

**Soko kara nani ga mieru _what can you see from there?_**

**Hito ha naze yurushiau koto _And why can't people_**

**Dekinai no deshou _forgive each other?_**

**Ame ga sugite natsu ha _In a summer with much rain_**

**Aoi wo utsushita _ blue was substituted._**

**Hitotsu ni natte _ Becoming one,_**

**Chiisaku yureta _it faintly wavered_**

**Watashi no mae de _in front of me_**

**Nani mo iwazu ni _without saying a word._**

**Kareteyuku tomo ni _What do you feel_**

**Omae ha nani wo omou _ towards a dying friend?_**

**Kotoba wo motanu sono ha de _How much love can those wordless leaves_**

**Nanto ai wo tsutaeru _ convey?_**

**Natsu no hi ha kagette _The summer sun gets clouded,_**

**Kaze ga nabiita _ the wind was swayed by it._**

**Futatsu kasanatte _Joining them together,_**

**Ikita akashi wo _I will sing_**

**Watashi ha utaou _the proof of life_**

**Na mo naki mono no tame _ for those nameless ones._**

_Song End_

As Kurama's song slowly came to an end, she smiled down at Kamiko. The girl had slowly drifted into a deep sleep while listening to the beautiful song flow out of the mouth the woman holding her. Sighing, the woman wrapped the two of them up using the last of her five tails to do so. **"Everything is going to be alright Miko-chan,"** Kurama said sadly. **"I promise you."** Outside of her mind if a person were to look in on Kamiko they would find a slightly tear streaked girl curled up into a ball sleeping soundly atop her kitchen table.

* * *

A week and a half later found all of Team Seven standing just outside the doors of building where the First Exam of the Chunin Exams were to be held. Sasuke and Sakura would occasionally glance at Kamiko as the three teammates proceeded to open the doors to the building. The girl had started wearing the clothes that she had gotten out of the expense of Anko's wallet instead of her own. She wore a dark blue zip up jacket that was completely zipped along with a completely black skirt that stopped just above her knees. It wasn't much, but it was not what either of the two Genin thought would be worn by their teammate. What truly drew their attention was the color of Kamiko's hair since last they checked it was blond and not red.

As they walked up to the second floor silently they caught sight of the commotion that was happening just in front of what was apparently room number 301, the room in which the first part of the exams were supposed to take place. As they slowed their approached they listened in on what was happening. They watched as a boy with a bowl haircut in a horrible green jumpsuit was knocked down into a crowd of uncertain Genin. There were two boys, one with a bandaid one each cheek along with his chin and spiky hair while the other one had short straight hair with no defining traits, were blocking the door with smirks on their face that seemed to look extremely familiar to Kamiko for some reason.

The spiky haired boy laughed at the fallen boy. "You plan to take the Chunin Exams with that?!" he said with a sneer. "You should just quit now while you still have a chance. You're just a little kid." The guy's partner in crime nodded in agreement and chimed in with a 'yeah yeah!'

A girl who resembled that of a small panda due to her figure and two buns in her hair stepped to the side of the fallen boy. "Please... let us through..." she begged to the two boys before everyone as she took a step forward to them. A mistake on her part as a swift backhand to her face knocked her away from the boys and made her cry out in slight pain. Gasp rang through the crowd as they started to talk furiously yet with a clear level of nervousness in their voices. The voice of one Genin was heard clearly as he called the act horrible.

The two door blockers jovial expressions over causing large mass nervousness among the group quickly turned into glares. "What did you say?" one of them said. "Listen... this is our kindness. The Chunin Exams aren't easy... even we have failed it three straight times. Those that take this exam and end up quitting as shinobi and kunoichi, those that die during the exam, we've seen it all." At the mention of dying during the exam, Kamiko noticed the shock and horror that registered on Sakura's face and sighed inwardly. "Chunins often become captains of military teams. The failure of a mission, the death of a comrade... That's all the captain's responsibility. Yet kids like you think you can pass these exams?We are just thinning out those who will fail anyways. What's wrong with that?" A few teams of Genin had quickly lost their resolve and walked away from daunting task of taking the exam.

Kamiko sighed and looked past the commotion and sighed. She knew exactly what was going on. She knew that the two boys were a) most definitely not little boys nor of the lowly Genin caliber, and b) they were doing exactly what they said they were doing. They were thinning out the number of competitors who wouldn't be able to handle the situation. _This is only the second floor so that room is obviously under a genjutsu, and I feel like Sasuke is about screw everything up any moment now, and I'm really tired of this little stink that Sakura seems to be in right now as well._ Sighing the girl cut a look at both of her teammates before walking past everyone as Sasuke began talking. _Just keep walking and don't look back._

Traveling the halls on her own was quite relaxing. She didn't have to deal with the uncomfortable silence of being in between a stark silent chatterbox of a girl and the every dead silent king of all emos when she was alone. The sound of her own echoing steps flowing down the hall sounded beautiful to Kamiko and she smiled as she closed her eyes and began to hum. She stayed in that peaceful mindset until she arrived at the true entrance to room number 301 with Kakashi standing there in front of it.

"Hm, where is Sakura and Sasuke?" Kakashi asked slightly puzzled. "Did they not decide to come participate in the exams maybe?" Throwing a glare at the masked man, Kamiko just pulled the hood of her jacket up, crossed her arms, and leaned against the wall as if Kakashi hadn't said a word at all. Sighing, Kakashi scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I'm guess you're still mad about your ribbon not being found I guess. Look it wasn't like I forgot to look for it nor that I decided to just flat out not do it." Kakashhi would've said more, but was stopped by Kamiko throwing up a hand before sliding down the wall to the ground and promptly falling asleep. _Great talk..._ Unlike Sakura and Sasuke, Kakashi was not surprised ny Kamiko's hair color since he already knew that it was never truly blond.

Kamiko wasn't truly sleep. She had only tuned out the world so heavily that her body reacted as if she had suddenly laid down to bed. What the red haired kunoichi was truly doing was feeling the chakra behind the closed door of room 301. There were many chakra signatures behind the door. All ranging from the miniature little nothings to those that rivaled or even surpassed her own. _There's not a lot of them, but it seems like there are actually some challenging people behind those doors. Hm, well this could actually turn out to be a bit more enjoyable than I thought especially if I end up facing off against one of those three._

There were three signatures that Kamiko had memorized from a few days ago when she noticed an interaction between them and her two teammates while she was passing by. The girl gave thought to intervening but found the thought far too troublesome and just watched from afar to get a feel of the three strangers that Sakura confronted on the half of the Third Hokage's grandson, Konahamaru. _Sasuke was probably only there for the glory of being the savior of the day, but that doesn't matter. To think there is going to be one other Jinchuriki in these exams is quite..._ The girl's thoughts trailed of as she felt a chakra signature that was similar to Kurama's mixed with someone else's chakra the way any other Jinchuriki's chakra felt. _...interesting_ Kamiko smiled as she finished her thought thoroughly amused before Kakashi's voice brought her out of her thoughts.

"Ah, all three of you decided to show up," Kakashi said as Sakura and Sasuke walked down the hallway towards them, "now we can properly take the exams."

Kamiko stood slowly with a frown as surprise register on Sakura's face. "Kakashi-sensei? What are you doing here, and what do you mean by 'properly take the exam'?"

Putting his hands in his pockets, Kakashi turned so that he could see the entire team. "Simply put, the truth of the matter is that this test can only be taken by teams of three Genin." Shock registered on Sasuke and Sakura's faces as Kamiko let her hood slide forward to cover her eyes, but her frown showed her obvious displeasure. "Now I know it seems like I lied to the three of you about this being an individual choice, but if I tole you the truth, Kamiko or Sasuke might have pressured you to take the exam Sakura. Even if you didn't want to, if Sasuke asked you... you would, even though if it wasn't in your heart. For the sake of Sasuke... and.. well.. Kamiko too..."

Sakkura balled her fist into her dress as she looked up at her sensei. "So if only Sasuke-kun and Kamiko had shown up?" she asked feeling she already knew the answer just like the other two did.

"Then the exam would have ended here and they would not get to go any further," Kakashi said seriously. "But you came of your own free will; you guys are my proud team after all." Walking past Sasuke and Sakura, Kakashi waved a hand. "Now go on and pass this test." Kamiko rolled her eyes behind her hood as Sasuke and Sakura smiled with renewed confidence they got from their senesi's final words. Turning towards the room the three proceeded to open the door and walk in.

As the door closed behind them, the renewed resolve that Sakura had gained was visibly shaken as they took in the room they just entered. "What... is this?" she whispered. The room was large and was able to fit a considerable amount of Genin into it at once. All of these Genin instantly turned their heads towards Team Seven as they entered and the door closed behind. Sakura shivered slightly as she looked about the room as Sasuke intensified his glare.

Sighing, Kamiko quickly inched away from her team to a corner where she could sit in comfort and observe all of the Genin in the room without being disturbed. She found she had moved away just in time when Ino launched herself at the slightly surprised Sasuke. It didn't take long for the rest of Team Ten and the members of Team Eight to show up after the girl's appearance.

Electing to ignore them all momentarily, Kamiko took stock of the competition in the room. She was able to count that there was roughly more than sixty different Genin teams all hailing from different villages to participate in the exams. She noticed a boy with blood red hair and a gourd on his back sitting with a guy in what looked like a cat suit for clowns and a woman with a giant black board like item strapped to her back. She recognized them as the three Suna nin who had been confronted by Sakura and Sasuke some time back. Having little interest in the cat boy or the girl, Kamiko sized up the red head. He wasn't much shorter than her and seemed to be extremely calm as he appeared to be staring off into nothing. Just from watching him now, and remembering how he acted towards Sasuke and his own teammates, she could tell he liked to fight a great deal. The boy most likely loved to kill even more than he liked to fight.

**"Ah, my younger brother Shukaku, or better known by the humans the Ichibi is within that child."** Kurama said as she spoke out of Kamiko's mind so suddenly that the girl jerked slightly. **"He isn't the most stable of us biju and he loves to torment his Jinchuriki unfortunately. That boy over there may seem like he has it all together, but I bet he is truly deranged and hasn't slept in a very long time. I would advise you to be extremely weary of this character Miko-chan. You never know what he might try to do."**

_Yeah I got that, and can you like give some sort of warning before you start talking or something? I'm not used to you talking to me like that Kura-chan and it scared the... crap out of me alright._ Kurama chuckled as she agreed to find a way to announce herself before she began to speaking to Kamiko. _Now let's see if I can find that other Jinchuriki. It seemed like it might have come from... now what the hell is going on over there?_

Among Teams Seven, Eight, and Ten sat a boy wearing glasses with short spiky silver hair who was kneeling before them. Kamiko stalked forward so that she could hear what was being said. The silver haired boy chuckled as he looked at Sasuke who was kneeling beside him alongside Kiba. "There are some guys you're worried about huh? Anyways, the info on all of this exams participants isn't perfect, but I do have it. Even about you guys. Say something about these guys and I'll take a look to see if I can find them for you."

Narrowing his eyes, Sasuke clenched his fist. "Show me Gaara of Suna, Rock Lee from Konaha, and Uzumaki Kamiko from Konaha as well." Surprise registered on everyone's faces as Sasuke asked for information on his own teammate to be revealed out loud in front of potential enemies, but all of them kept quite about there opinions of the boy's choice.

Glasses sighed playful as he waved a deck of cards in front of his face. "Oh you know their names. This should be much easier than it would've been then if you hadn't, but a lot less fun." As the boy swiped three cards out of the deck, Kamiko inched closer to the group. "Ok, first is Rock Lee. He is a year older than you guys. Mission History: 20 completed D-Ranked missions and 12 completed C-Rank missions. His sensei is Matio Guy. The guy's taijutsu has improved greatly in this year, the rest is nothing impressive. Last year he gained attention as a talented Genin, but he did not participate in the exams. Like you guys, this is his first time. Th members of his team are Hyuga Neji and Tenten..." The Genin surrounding him were all surprised at the amount of information that was on the small card about one of their own fellow Konoha ninja and made a few of them feel uncomfortable.

"Next is Gaara," the boy said as he pressed on. "Mission History: 8 completed C-Rank missions and 1 completed B-Rank mission. Wow, a B-Rank mission as a Genin. That is pretty remarkable. The member's of his team are his brother Kankuro and his sister Temari. Since he's a new comer from a foreign country I don't have much info on this guy but... It seems he has returned from all of his missions without even a scratch on him." Sasuke grunted in frustration as the boy moved on to Kamiko's card.

Everyone waited a moment as the silver haired boy glared at the card as if it offended him. "That's strange," he said as he turned the card towards the other Genin, "I have less on this girl than i have on anyone else. All my cards come with at least a picture of a the person, but her's isn't there. Her skills are said to be widely unknown and that no one has even heard of her until recently. All I have on it is her name and her teammates. Which would be you Sasuke-kun and Sakura-chan."

All around who were able to hear the first two information on the cards were surprised at the revelation of the girl's completely blank card. It was a dilemma that the silver haired boy didn't seem to like. It was at this time that the hooded girl herself decided to appear in between Sakura and Hinata while standing just behind Sasuke himself. "What the fuck do you think you are doing you teme?" Hinata squeaked softly in surprised as she jerked away from Kamiko's sudden appearance while Sakura swiftly turned to the girl with surprise written all over her face.

It felt like someone had thrown each and every person in the room into a freezer as they all cool feel the chilling tension that suddenly came into being. The look on Sakura's face slowly turned from one of surprise to one of complete terror as she began to take slow shivering steps away from Kamiko as Sasuke slowly stood and he turned to face Kamiko. He looked into her eyes with a glare to match hers as he seemed to be trying to use his slight height on her to intimidate her. No one in the room could understand the way the two Genin were reacting to the girl who had suddenly appeared before them and felt the need to observe the situation. "I asked you a question damn it," Kamiko said with little to no kindness in her voice. "What the hell do you think it is that you are doing by trying to reveal information on me in front of so many potential enemies?" Sasuke only intensified his glare as he took a threatening step towards Kamiko, which was the mistake he would soon regret.

Kamiko sighed before she stepped closer to Sasuke. "Don't try and push me here Uchiha. You may think you're some kind of badass or something, but I can bet over half the Genin in her are most likely just canon fodder. Kind of like you and Sakura." Another step was taken that put Kamiko's large chest against Sasuke's. It forced her to look up at the boy, but with only one menacing eye as the slant of her hair and hood covered the other. "If you were to go up against anyone in this room that was even just a little bit of a decent shinobi or kunoichi you'd struggle just to get the win, possibly even lose. Shinobi and kunoichi on the level of those two you just asked about would crush you in a match easily. I bet they could even kill you if they wanted to, so here is my warning to you teme. Don't cross me so lightly unless you think you honestly have a chance against me." For what seemed like years the two glared at each other. The boy seemed as if he was going to say something before he began to shake. Something from the look and Kamiko's eye was starting to get to Sasuke. Not only that, but he wasn't sure if it was his own imagination, but it seemed as if Kamiko wanted him to say he could beat her and it unnerved him slightly. Clenching his fist, Sasuke looked down and away from Kamiko which caused the members of both Team Eight, excluding the ever silent Shino, and Team Ten to gasp in shock at the almighty Uchiha's obvious so of submission to the shorter girl's words. "Hmph. I thought as much," Kamiko said as she brushed past him.

Kamiko walked through the throng of people that practically parted for her to walk through. If no one knew who the girl was before, they all got a good long look at her. Uzumaki Kamiko may be a short girl, but she was not someone to taken lightly. Her message for one was recieved by all. Finding a spot to sit down not to far away from the group, the hooded girl relaxed into a chair as a shaking Sakura returned to the group with downcast eyes. Kamiko watched as they all began to question the two on what exactly had just happened between the three teammates. The only ones not asking questions were Shino, who didn't seem to care and rarely talked anyways, and Shikamaru who was looking at Kamiko with a frown as he had known Kamiko as she was before becoming Naruto, and found this girl not to be the same as the one he had met a long time ago. The Naruto she had become was much much closer than the girl he was looking at.

As the Genin team from Otokagure attacked the silver haired boy for some reason involving village pride or something, Kamiko looked around and spotted what she had been looking for originally. A girl who wore an orange clip in her short, spiky mint green hair that matched her orange eyes. She wore a short sleeveless white midriff shirt with fishnet armor underneath, long white armlets, and fishnet shorts with a short white apron skirt over it. Her forehead protector was worn on her right arm with the symbol for Takigakure on it. She also carried a cylindrical object in red wrapping on her back that made Kamiko slightly curious. _Well now... she's looking pretty cute over there with a biju locked up in her. _Kamiko let a slight giggle escape her lips at her own thoughts.

As everyone seemed to talking loudly at once a large explosion of smoke appeared at the front of the room. "Quiet down you worthless bastards!" As the smoke cleared it revealed a number Konoha Chunin behind a man with a trench coat on. "Thanks for waiting... I am Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the Chunin Selection Exam's first test." The man's intimidating appearance caused many of the Genin to shiver as he pointed over at the group that was causing a bunch of commotion. "Otokagure guys, stop doing as you please before the exam. Do you want to fail already?"

The boy who appeared to be the leader of the team turned his bandaged head towards the examiner. "I apologize," he said. "This is our first time... We got a bit carried away..." Kamiko doubted that that was the reason that the three Oto nin had flown off the handle the way that they had, and the examiner quite obviously didn't believe them either.

Ibiki sighed. "Here's a good opportunity to say this... There will be no fighting without the permission of the examiner. Even if permission is granted, killing your opponent will not be tolerated. Those pigs that disobey me will be failed immediately. Do I make myself clear?"

As many of the Genin mumbled among themselves, the other male on the Oto team sneered. "This exam is sounding like it's going to be a cake walk to me."

Ibiki ignored the boy as the Chunin behind him snickered. "We will now start the First Exam of the Chunin Exams. Instead of your current seating arrangements... You will pick one of these tabs and sit in the seat that is assigned to you. We will then hand out the exams." Kamiko was surprised to find that it would be a paper test, but shrugged it off she got a tab that put her in the exact seat she was currently sitting in.

As she sat waiting for everyone else to get seated, Kamiko twirled a few strands of her hair aimlessly. "Kamiko-chan," Hinata said as she sat down next to the girl and the test were set down in front of them face down. "Let's do our best..." Kamiko nodded at the shy girl and gave her a small smile.

"Do not turn over your tests over yet," Ibiki said. "Listen closely to what I'm about to sat. There are many important rules to this First Exam. I'll write it on the board while I explain, but questions will not be allowed so listen carefully." Relaxing into her chair, Kamiko listened as Ibiki spoke. "As she listened to the rules, the hooded girl slowly began to smile. While she found some of the rules to be stupid and redundant, the rule about cheating was the only one she needed to hear before she understood what the entire first exam was about. She personally knew who Morino Ibiki was and knew what it was he did for a living and that all led to the test basically being handed to her on as silver plater as far as Kamiko was concerned.

Once they were allowed to start the test, Kamiko flew through the questions that she was able to work through before flipping her test over and laying her head down with a smile on her lips. _Most of the Genin here that have brains will most likely just understand the questions and right trough them before the others who know what the true meaning of this test truly is finds a way to cheat off of them. I'm so fucking smart I deserve a pat on the back._ Chuckling, Kamiko fell into a comfortable nap for the rest of the exam.

Kamiko woke to the sound of small celebrations as Ibiki once again congratulated the remaining teams on passing through the exams. The girl rubbed her eyes and looked around to see who was left in the room. She wasn't surprised to find that a little over half of the teams had disappeared from the room. She sighed in relief when she saw Sakura and Sasuke were still sitting in their chairs with smiles on their faces. Teams Eight and Ten had also survived Ibiki's mind games to get through to the next exam. The Oto team that had attacked the glasses wearing boy was still in the room as well as the two teams that housed the other two Jinchuriki in the exams. _Good, I would have been disappointed if those two didn't make it through the exam. This thing can still get interesting._

As the small celebrating continued, it was cut short as a small purple ball came flying through and smash through the glass of a window as it came into the room. Surprised registered on everyone but Ibiki's faces as glass flew everywhere and a banner was suddenly erected in an instant. The banner blocked as a woman spun around stood in front of the banner. "You guys! This is no time for celebrating! I am the examiner for the Second Exam Mitarashi Anko! Now let's go follow me!"

Silence enveloped the room as Kamiko slowly let her head fall to the desk with a soft thump. _I... I love my Onnechan... I love her so much... but she is so..._ Ibiki pulled the banner away slightly as he peeked around it at Anko who had struck a slight pose. "Bad timing," was all the man said to her as everyone just stared at her.

Looking for anything to draw attention away from herself, Anko counted the number of remaining Genin and was surprised at the remainder. "132?!" she said while looking at the first examiner accusingly. "Ibiki! You left 44 teams?! The test was too easy this time!"

Ibiki merely chuckled. "This time.. There are a lot of outstanding ones."

"Whatever. That's fine." Anko turned towards group of Genin. "I'll cut them in half in the Second Exam at the least." Surprise etched its way into the faces of many. "Ah, I'm starting to get excited. I'll explain everything once we have changed places, so follow me now." As everyone followed Anko out of the room, Kamiko made sure that she was right next to the examiner as they walked on. Without looking at her, Anko sighed. "Don't you dare say a fucking word you hear me Kamiko-chan. Not a single fucking word."

For a while Kamiko was silent as they walked before she bowed her head. "I'll always love you Anko-onneechan... I'll always love you..."

Anime tears trailed down Anko's cheeks as they walked on. "Shut up. I had it all planned out perfectly. It should have upped my coolness level that entrance." Before they reached the place where she was taking all the Genin, Anko shook off her depression of her failed entrance and separated herself from Kamiko. When they finally stopped the group was in front of a large fenced in forest that read 'Danger' and 'Keep Out" every fifteen feet of fence. Looking back at the Genin with a smile, Anko spoke. "Welcome to the stage for the Second Exam of the Chunin Exams. Practice Area 44, also known as... 'The Forest of Death'." Many Genin began to grumble and wonder at the nick name of the forest as Anko enjoyed their uncertainty. "You'll find out why it's called the 'Forest of Death' soon enough so pipe down. Now before we start the Second Exam, there's something I have to pass out." Anko whipped out a stack of papers with a smile on her face. "You must sign these agreement forms. There will be deaths in this part of the exam, and if I don't have you sign these it will be my responsibility."

People gasped as Anko trudged on. "I'm going to explain the exam first, then you can sign it if you still want to participate afterwards. After that then each team will check in at that booth behind me. Now in a nut shell you will be attempting the ultimate inside the forest behind me here. Around Practice Area No. 44 are 44 locked gates. Forest rivers, and a tower at the center. From the gates to the tower is about ten km. During your survival in here you will be asked to complete a certain task. Using your many weapons and jutsu, you will compete in a no rules scroll battle."

A random Genin raised his hand as he questionably repeated the word scroll to which Anko replied, "Yes. You will fight over these two scrolls. The 'Heaven' and the 'Earth'. There are 132 people here, meaning that there are 44 teams of you Genin. Half of you will get the 'Heaven' scroll, and the other half will get the 'Earth' scroll. Now what does that mean to you my little Genin?"

Shikamaru lazily raised his hand and scratched the back of his head. "That there is going to be 22 copies of both the 'Heaven' and 'Earth' scroll right?" he asked.

"That's part of it. To pass this test your team must make it to the center tower with both scrolls in hand." Everyone instantly understood her previous remark in room 301 when she declared that she would be cutting the number of teams and Genin in at least half. There was no way for more than half of what was left to make it through. "But there's a time limit," Anko said warningly. "This exam will last a total of 120 hours. That is exactly five days that you could be spending inside the forest hunting for the adjourning scroll to the one you have."

Ino and Choji raged slightly at the number of days that they could possibly be spending in the forest. "Five days?!" Ino hollered as Choji cried about what they were supposed to o about diner in the forest, namely dinner.

"You're on your own," Anko said in reply to Choji's complaint. "The forest is full of food. Just watch out for the man-eating beast, poisonous insects, and other things. Just so you know, 22 teams passing is not a likely outcome in this forest. As the days go on the distance to the goal will become further away to you, and the time to rest will become shorter with each passing moment. The area is crawling with enemies, so you won't be able to get much sleep. So not only will some be failing by losing their scroll, but a number of you will die from the harshness of this course. Now I'll talk about what will disqualify you from the exam. First, those that don't make it to the tower with both scrolls in hand within the given time limit. Second, those who lose a teammate or those who have a teammate killed. As a rule, there is no quitting in the middle of this exam. Once you enter you are in there for the full five days no matter what the situation." Anko looked like she was about to stopped talking when something else struck her. "Oh, and before I forget there is just one more teeny tiny rule. You must not look inside the scroll until you make it to the inside of the tower. If you decide you just have to open the scroll, well I hope you enjoy the surprise."

Anko pocketed her hands in her tan trench coat. "A Chunin will be asked to handle classified information from time to time. This to test your trust worthiness. That is it for the explanations. Exchange the three forms of your team for your scroll. Then choose a gate once you have done that and get ready to start."

As everyone started walking about and signing their forms, Kamiko and her team turned in their signed forms and received a scroll. Choosing gate number seven for luck, the team waited for the exam to start. Being the one who was given the scroll, Kamiko shoved the scroll down in her jacket until Sasuke complained. "I think the scroll would be better off if it was in more capable hands dobe. Hand over the scroll so I can take care of it." Sakura nodded in agreement with Uchiha but kept her distance from the two. Kamiko debated on what she should do. While knocking the boy out sounded like a really appeasing idea, she knew that she needed him fully functioning for the exam. Without a word she gave the scroll to the boy who smiled smugly. "For once you actually made a good decision."

Before Kamiko could do any damage to the prize of Konoha, Anko's voice cut through the air. "The second Exam of the Chunin Exams now begins!" As she finished talking the gate before flew open and they ran through it immediately. _Now let's see what this years crop of Genin have to offer._ Anko thought with a smile as she watched teams disappear into the forest.

...

...

...

..._Now what is this slip of paper Kamiko-chan handed me?_...

Sitting in the Jonin lounge with Asuma an Kurenai, Kakashi shivered violently. He blinked as the other two looked at him awkwardly. _Why did I feel like I just died a hundred times over?..._

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_**A/N: **_**I hope you were all able to enjoy this action-less chapter. I didn't see anywhere I could squeeze in a bit of fighting that would nave been pretty out of place in chapter like this unless I decided to keep the chapter going and start the Second Exam instead of waiting for the next chapter, but that would've taken me a lot longer to do. I was really lazy about the First Exam since I really don't like it myself, but I couldn't think of a replacement so I kinda just skipped it. What did you guys think of Kamiko's interaction with Kabuto and Sasuke? Too much? Should I eventually write up what the three clones did while Kamiko talked to Kurama and slept? Please review. Until next my friends.**


	5. Chpt V: The Forest of Death

**A/N: I. AM. SO. DAMN. SORRY. ;-; This was supposed to be done quite a long time ago, but I have so much going on right now. I was barely finding anytime to actually write anything let alone think up what to do next in this chapter. Hopefully this chapter that's longer than the other four can makeup for my tardiness in getting it out. Once again I'm sorry and hope you enjoy the chapter…**

**Disclaimer****: I own nothing... ;-;**

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Kamiko sighed as she sat silently in the tree above her teammates as the two started up a fire for the night. It was the end of the first day inside of the forest of death and they had nothing but a few cuts and brushes from running through tree branches. The only one with any real injuries thus far had been Sakura, and one of them was written off as a freak accident. The first day had just been all around terrible for Team Seven as it started off bad and only snowballed downhill from that point forward. _Seriously_, Kamiko thought to herself as she looked down at the Sasuke and Sakura as the two began cooking their caught fish on the fire, _what kind of luck do you need to be lacking to for shit to start off like this?_

* * *

The start to the test was horrible for Team Seven as it was just plain embarrassing for what occurred. The team of Genin had maybe made it one hundred feet into the forest before Sakura tripped out a root growing out of the ground of the forest floor. Flying forward, Sakura face planted hard and skidded towards a nearby bush before stopping. Both Kamiko and Sasuke were completely unsure as to how to react to what they had just seen happen to the young girl. On one hand the shit was funny as hell to both of them and you would have to be a fool if you didn't laugh at the girl's misfortune so early off. On the other hand it was just extremely embarrassing to witness happening and didn't dignify a response from anyone of upstanding class.

So of course as Sakura slowly stood up and wobbled back over to her teammates, Sasuke was impatiently looking at their surroundings as Kamiko was doubled over in a fit of giggles. "Yeah thanks for the help there," Sakura said as she got back to the two. "I mean it wasn't like the ground just tore off few parts of my face and messed up my hair."

Sasuke grunted as Kamiko calmed herself down. "Now now Miss Klutz it wasn't all that bad. You at least made it into the forest before almost being killed by a tree root." Sakura huffed as she began pulling fallen leaves and twigs out of her hair. There were a few cuts on her face from skidding on the ground, but none of them were so bad that they needed any kind of treatment from anyone.

"Don't start squabbling here," Sasuke said gaining a glare from Kamiko for his words. "Now isn't the time for your emotions to be getting the best of you." Sakura smiled widely as she nodded vigorously and Kamiko just rolled her eyes as she stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets. "We should make a plan to get through this forest as fast as possible. The quicker we get out of a place like this the better."

"At least I have emotions," Kamiko mumbled to herself as the three Genin began to jog through the forest. "So I'm guessing that you already have some sort of plan all laid out for us your Majesty," the hooded red head said with a slight drawl in her voice. Sasuke glanced at her as they walked but stayed silent. "If you have one I am sure that Sakura would be just as interested to hear what it is as I am if not a thousand times more." Still nothing came out of the lone Uchiha's mouth as the three continued forward.

The lack of an answer quickly irritated Kamiko. "Oi! Fucker! If you got a plan share it with us already you bastard!"

"Kamiko!" Sakura gasped at the girl's language as Sasuke whipped around with a very apparent frown on his face. As he paced towards Kamiko the girl smiled and leaned forward slightly in anticipation. "Come on you guys calm down," Sakura said with worry as she stepped in between the two. "We can't start fighting each other here. I mean we haven't even gotten that deep in to the forest."

"We've gotten far enough in," Sasuke said cryptically as he took up a fighting stance. Sakura was unsure of what exactly was happening. Both Sasuke and Kamiko seemed dead set on using this chance to tear into each other and there was nothing that she could realistically due without getting herself most likely hurt in the process. Making a tight fist she decided she would stop them just as the first group of giant spiders fell all around Team Seven. All of them varied in sizes, but none of them were smaller than the three Genin. They were coated in thick brown and black fur that looked more prickly than soft. A strange clear fluid coated their fangs and slowly drip down from them. "We've gotten far enough into the forest for the test to truly began."

Smiling wickedly, Kamiko quickly lashed out at the closest spider to her with a kunai. Letting out a shrill shriek that agitated its brethren, the giant spider recoiled as Kamiko's kunai sliced through half of its eyes. As the arachnid pulled away from her, Kamiko launched the kunai in her hand with all her strength at the head of the spider. With a soft thunk and squelch it sunk into the spider's head, killing it instantly. There was a moment's pause as the spider convulsed and fell back before curling in on itself. As soon as it was completely still the attack began.

Kamiko was quickly surrounded by three spiders that launched themselves at her with dripping fangs and trailing web. Freeing her left hand from her pocket as she spun around, the girl unleashed her Seversword from it and sliced them all in half with the ease of pushing a steak knife through butter. As her rotation came to a stop, she dropped the tip of the blade into the ground beside her. _Gonna tear these overgrown pieces of shit into even smaller pieces! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!_ Kamiko could barely contain a slightly crazed giggle as she suddenly charged forward with more of the insects leaping out at her.

Sakura watched in awe as Kamiko began to tear through a group of spiders as if they were no more than playthings to her. She watched as her teammate twisted amongst their ranks, and cut apart anything that came near her. It was hard to tell whether there was any technique in Kamiko's wild attacks or whether or not the girl was just going plain crazy on the unfortunate spiders.

Looking behind her, Sakura saw Sasuke weaving about the enemy with a great amount of speed as he continuously released a mixed hail of shuriken and kunai that cut into their eyes and large abdomens. After he was doing using the insects like target practice, Sasuke quickly whipped through a set of hand signs."Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" As multiple bullets of fire slammed into them the spiders shrieked as they burned.

The young girl was slightly amazed by what she was seeing her teammates do to the spiders, but more so she was terrified. To the knowledge of very few people, none of whom was on her team, Sakura had a major case of arachnophobia. Slow but surely the terror she felt drove away all the awe that the girl felt and left her trembling. She stumbled backwards until she bumped into something that was uncomfortably moist and sticky. Whipping around the young kunoichi found herself face to face with one of the spiders. _I'm dead..._

Now what happened next could have viably happened to just about anyone who found themselves in the same situation as the pinked haired girl. Yes what she did was even more embarrassing than tripping over a root the way she had early, but this could have happened to anyone. While staring dead into the eyes of the spider, Sakura slowly slid to her knees. She hardly registered the warm fluid that steadily ran down her thighs as she completely stopped shaking like a small animal.

For Sakura everything seemed to slow down and stop. The spider was slowly reaching out to her as the liquid on its fangs began to thicken. The sounds around her muffled into nothingness. Her widened eyes looked forward and tunneled into the spider's eyes as her body refused to respond to her commands. Mind completely numbed by terror, there was nothing that she could do to save herself from the now hopeless situation that she found herself in. All she could do was watch in horror as the spider slowly closed in on her and her mind began to shut down. _Sasuke-kun... Kamiko... Somebody... Save me..._

Humming to herself, Kamiko stomped down on the face of one spider as she slashed through one that jumped above her. The spider she stood atop of wildly flailed in an attempt to launch the hooded girl off of it. "Hey you!" Kamiko hissed as she reeled back her weapon like a baseball bat. "Calm the fuck down!" With a swing the girl cleanly cleaved the spider's lower half off.

She flipped into the as strands of sticky web were shot in her direction before more spiders came crawling down them. Landing on the trunk of a tree behind her, Kamiko looked around herself lazily. So far nothing spectacular had occurred. Spiders attack from above, cut them in half. Spiders attack from behind, spin around and cut them in half. Spiders attack head on, curb stomp the stupid fucker's face in and cut them in half. I mean honestly what can a bunch of spiders do against a stamina freak wielding a giant sword?

_Gah! This is so freaking boring,_ Kamiko thought as she dodged to the side as a large group spiders that came after her one after another. Each time she dodged one spider to just bring down the Seversword down through its midsection before hopping to the side to do it to the next one. _Fighting Sakura with a toothpick in her hand would be more of a challenge for me than these stupid things are!_

Stabbing the Seversword into the ground in time for a spider to charge at it and cut itself in half, Kamiko turned around with a frown. _Speaking of Miss Bubblegum, where did sh..._ "Holy shit!" Kamiko's eyes widened as she caught sight of the spider attacking Sakura. She watched as the spider's fangs tore into the girl's shoulder and tossed her to the ground. Quickly it scuttled atop her before rapidly moving all eight of its legs.

Faster than she thought any of the spider's could move, Kamiko watched as Sakura was bitten, tossed, covered up, and wrapped in web. And now said girl was being dragged away in her cocoon to lord knows where. "Dammit it all! Sasuke roast as many of these things as you can and catch up to me! I'm going after that spider and Sakura!" Kicking the blade out of the dirt, and shoving it back into her jacket pocket, the girl rushed after her captured teammate.

Sasuke bit back a growl as he released another volley of miniature fireballs at a group of spiders while backpedaling. Like Kamiko he had witnessed what had happened to Sakura. He had started to rush to the girl's aid, but was cut off by a few spiders who burned in their attempt to do the same thing to him.

The young Uchiha did not like having to do what his teammate said, since it was the equivalent of taking orders from the girl, but he knew that the enemy had to be taken out. After dodging a few lunging spiders a smirk grew on the edge of Sasuke's face. _Hn. This situation might be useful to me._ For what better test of survival than this.

* * *

_For fucks sake slow down already._ Kamiko tailed the spider that carried Sakura as it seemed to increase its speed by the second. D_ammit! Seriously already! How the fuck is this thing out pacing me?!_ She was not far behind the fast moving insect, but she was not yet close enough to do anything to stop the spider's progress. Well, at least without harming Sakura in the process of doing so.

It was quite odd though. The spider was running away from Kamiko. Yes that much was apparent, but at the same time it seemed to be moving with a destination in mind. Like there was somewhere it had to get Sakura to at all cost. Maybe a web to attach her to for slow eating. Maybe to a horde of more giant spiders. Or maybe, something that would be way worse than both of the two combined.

**"Kamiko! You must stop that spider now!"** Kurama's voice rang out urgently in Kamiko's mind making the girl flinch slightly. **"Where ever it is trying to get to is not good! Stopping it now at the risk of hurting your teammate is much better than waiting to find out where it's taking the girl!"**

Kamiko sighed as she gave a mental nod. _I got you Kura-chan. I'll get that thing right now. _Reaching into her pocket, she withdrew the Seversword and began channeling chakra into it. She slowly let the blade fall behind her, Kamiko mentally took aim at the head of the arachnid. _Well... maybe this will work out perfectly and Sakura will come out of this unscathed._ As the blade fell back she began steadily pouring some of her chakra into it.

Once it reached the point of pointing directly out behind her, Kamiko twisted her body and launched it forward with all of her strength. With a fine line of violet outlining the blade it flew threw the forest ahead of her. It spun point over hilt while cutting through all branches in its way and tearing chunks out of trees. The thumping of its spin vibrated out as it near the unsuspecting spider.

Keeping up with the spider still, the girl watched as the blade got closer and closer to its target. For a reason completely unbeknownst to Kamiko, the spider stopped running abruptly just seconds before the sword would impact it. The girl's eyes widened at her fucked up luck. "You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Audibly smashing into the ground, the Seversword sliced off the head of the spider. It was only able to give out a small screech before its head fell to the ground and its body convulsed before rolling over and curling into itself.

Dropping down next to the severed head of the spider, Kamiko punted it away as hard as she could. "You piece of shit. Making me chase after you like that." The girl sighed and shook her head before turning towards the cocooned girl with a slight frown. She scratched the top of her head through her hood as she looked down.

There was a cut that went across the cocoon that Sakura was in. It was obvious that the Seversword was the culprit. There was no doubt in that since the blade was stuck in the ground right next to the cocoon. What was really the problem was that Kamiko was unable to tell if the cocoon was the only thing that her weapon had cut in to.

"Damn," the hooded girl said as she plucked up her sword and slammed it back onto her pocket. "If that stupid as spider wouldn't have stopped running like it did then I would have never even have touched the stupid cocoon." She lightly kicked the cocoon with the tip of her shoe for emphasis.

Kurama chuckled slightly in her mind. **"If I recall correctly,"** she said cautiously, **"that wasn't what you were thinking before you had no choice to throw it. Even as you were about to you still weren't sure if you were gonna be able to miss hitting the girl in there."**

The fox's amused yet cautious chuckling did not shit well with Kamiko at all. _What are you talking about?_ She thought as she reached down and tried to pick up the silk cocoon. She quickly found her hands stuck to it and used all of her force to push it away with the bottom of her foot. Fortunately it freed her hands, but now her shoe was stuck to it. Growling, Kamiko stuck her other shoe to the cocoon as she proceeded to take them off. _I'll just leave them there. Anyways, I totally had the situation under control from the beginning. All I had to d... OI! What are you doing?!_

The girl could feel the demonic chakra slowly coursing throughout her system. Since the moment Kamiko punted away the spider's head Kurama had been steadily feeding demonic chakra into it. **"What is the first thing I ever taught you Miko-chan?"** A slight crunching sound from above made Kamiko look up. **"Always pay attention to your surroundings no matter what the situation is."**

Kamiko's face slowly went from an expression of pure confusion to one that just screamed 'this shit is total bullshit'. It was only now that she was realizing that the area she was in was uncharacteristically dark even for the Forest of Death. The only explanation for said darkness had no other choice than to be the mass of spider's web that hung above her blocking off much of the sunlight. The web stretched in all directions as far as Kamiko could see and most likely even further in some areas. Amongst the web were many silk cocoons of every shape and size attached to it. Some of them swung lifelessly in the wind while others seemed to wiggle around slightly with its contents trying to figure a way out of its new, and most likely last, home.

As she looked around at the web and its cocoons, Sasuke dropped down next to her. "Lovely isn't it?" she said without looking in the young Uchiha's direction. His sole response was a soft grunt as he too looked around. Both of the Genin looked around in circles until another soft crunch was heard above them.

Instantly Sasuke fell into a fighting stance as Kamiko slightly tilted her head in the direction of the sound. _Kura-chan what's coming? What did you give me your chakra to fight against?_ The soft crunch was heard again and the two team members glared in the direction.

**"You have it all wrong," **Kurama said calmly. The soft crunch came again, and then again, and then again. Whatever was heading in their direction was picking up speed. **"I didn't give you my chakra to fight what is coming."** A loud screech that deafened the two Genin and made them cover their ears as they squeezed their eyes shut. When the screech stopped they slowly begin opening their eyes before they popped all the way open. **"It was so that you can run away."**

Without even a seconds thought, or even a word to each other, Sasuke and Kamiko turned on their heels and ran with Kamiko attaching the cocooned Sakura to her back. Another screech ripped through the forest as the two began leaping through the trees themselves to give them both that extra small boost in their speed. Neither dared look back to see of they were being chased by what they saw but risked a short glance at each other. In the one wordless instant, the two Genin both agreed unanimously that what just happened was never to be spoken of, and if anyone asked them about what happened... they just performed a tactical retreat and that was the end of the story.

* * *

Eventually the two stopped running and found a place to settle down into for the night. They took that time to cut the silk cocoon off of Kamiko's back with a kunai and then cut Sakura herself out of the cocoon. The pink haired was ever so slightly paralyzed from the poison on the fangs of the spider that took her away. It took a few minutes, but in time the paralysis wore off. In the mean time, shooing away Sasuke to find some good wood to start a fire, and stones to contain said fire, Kamiko took off Sakura's shirt and treated her wounds. There were two large punctures in her back along with a long cut from the top of her right shoulder to the tip of her left hip. After the wood along with the accompanying stones and Sakura's wounds were patched up the three Genin setup a schedule for guard duty.

**"The ever so fearless Kamiko and the almighty Uchiha ran away together in fear of what they saw,"** Kurama teased as Kamiko looked down at her teammates from her post. **"Oh what would their ever so die hard fans think of such an atrocious act being performed by their unwavering idols? Oh the horror they must be having."**

Furiously growling, Kamiko kicked out at the trunk of the tree she was in. She crossed her arms and pouted slightly like she was no more than a child. _For the last time Kura-chan we did not run away. We made hasty and tactical retreat in the face of adversity to ensure the survival of our down and injured teammate._

For a moment silence reigned as Kamiko waited for Kurama's response. When no response came from the demon fox, the girl rested against the tree's trunk with a victorious smirk on her face. **"In other words you both ran away like scared little girls,"** Kurama giggled. Sighing in defeat, Kamiko rubbed her face. She looked around at her surroundings and found nothing of note. Below her, Sasuke and Sakura had built the fire they were supposed to and promptly fell asleep afterwards. Looking at them made the girl frown as a single thought rippled throughout her mind. **"Stop it Kamiko. They are your teammates still and you will not leave them here to get the other scroll. Now get it here young lady before I force you in here. I can feel if anything happens and will let you know if you need to react when I let you leave."**

Rolling her eyes slightly, Kamiko closed her eyes and fell into her mind. Opening her eyes, she found herself staring out at the dead forest that surrounded the lush greenery below her. She stood up and looked down at the large branch she stood on and smiled happily. "Guess there really is a first time for everything huh."

Quickly scaling up the tree and into the opening inside the trees leaves, Kamiko greeted Kurama. "Hello Kura-chan. I'm liking the new dress you have on. It goes wonderfully with your hair and eyes." The fox demon was draped in a sparkling purple dress that covered her feet but left her beautifully bright skin open to the world. The sparkling purple seemed to make her eyes and hair even more radiant than they usually were and would make any person question how someone who appeared to be so elegant could be looked at as a nothing but a demon to be feared or used for its power.

Kurama shook her head. **"Why thank you Kamiko, I appreciate your compliment, but you aren't in any kind of trouble so stop trying to butter me up already."** Kamiko giggled as she scratched the back of her head and stuck out the tip of her tongue good naturedly. Beckoning her with a finger, Kurama took a few steps forward. **"Now come here and let me cuddle my daughter."**

The red haired girl rolled her eyes with a happy smile as she walked towards Kurama. The girl lazily fell head first into the fox as she wrapped her arms around the women. "What would my mother think if she knew how much I think of you as my mother instead of her?"

Kurama slowly wrapped her arms around Kamiko and lay down softly on to the leaves. She let her tails gently caress Kamiko as the young girl snuggled into her. **"Your mother, while indeed saddened by that fact, would be so happy to know that you have someone Miko-chan. Neither she nor your father wanted you to grow up without parents to be by your side and help you along in life."**

A sad smile rested on the young girl's face. She truly wished that she could have met her mother and got to know her first hand. The girl also wished that Kurama would just tell her who exactly her father was. Saying that he was a great man whom her mother loved like no other was not enough for the young girl, but she would settle for it until a later date. For now she would be happy for finding a mother within Kurama. "I should be watching for enemies coming, not resting like this," Kamiko said as her eyes closed and she snuggled into Kurama's chest.

Kurama shook her head. **"You need as much rest as those two and any other person Miko-chan. As for watching for enemies, I can take care of that. Trust in me to do that child. I will not knowingly let harm fall upon you."** The fox demon waited for a response to calling Kamiko a child. She was quite used to the young girl defending her pride as a full grown women, but no such response came from the girl. It was very rare for there to be no response. Looking down, a small smile rested on the woman's face as she looked into the peacefully sleeping face of Kamiko. To her the sight of such innocence was something to be treasured.

Unfortunately even such innocence can be tainted by the harsh and unforgiving events that life has the ability to deal out. **"Oh my dear Miko-chan,"** Kurama said as a faint aura of an unsightly dark purple enveloped the young girl and made her face scrunch up in pain as her breathing became irregular. **"How I wish to rid you of this pain forever."** She swept her tails gently around the girl until the aura began to fade, and Kamiko once again became peacefully dormant. **"A mother who can barely protect her daughter from her nightmares. What am I to do?"** Holding the girl closely, a single tear as blue as the sky rolled down both the mothering fox's face.

* * *

"Wake up!" Sakura freaked out as she felt herself being forced awake by someone. It didn't help her freaking that she felt something being pushed on to her face that reminded her of her silk confinement. With q screech the girl lashed out with her fist. A few times she connected with something solid. "Hey! Ouch! Stop it you bitch!"

A hard knock on the top of the head made the young girl temporarily stop before she frantically wiped at her face. Sakura blinked open her eyes to find an irritated Kamiko standing in front of while rubbing her chest. She also found a good amount of dirt littering her clothes. "What..? Did you kick dirt on to me?!"

Kamiko shrugged at the other girl's accusing glare. "You're up aren't you? Plus you were in the way of the fire." Kamiko pointed at the pile of wood that was covered in dirt. With a pout, Sakura dusted herself off as she stood up. "Anyways make sure all your stuff is still good to go. We're heading out to find the other scroll now."

Sakura rubbed the remaining dirt away from her face as she looked around. She quickly noticed that she saw no trace of her crush. "Where is Sasuke-kun? We can't leave without him." An eye roll was all the girl received from her teammate. "No seriously. Where is Sasuke-kun? If you think we're going to leave him behind for one second then you got another thing coming." A frown stuck on Sakura's face as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Don't tell me you two are going to start arguing as soon as you wake up." Sasuke strolled out of the trees with a frown as he looked at the two girls. "If that's really all you two are going to do now then can you at least save it for when we aren't surrounded by nothing but potential enemies. Now are you guys ready to go or not?"

Both girls nodded even though one of them still had not checked to make sure all of her stuff was as it should be. "Yeah yeah. We're ready to go. Seriously who died and deemed you leader of this team."

"Tch." Turning around, Sasuke strolled back into the forest with Sakura trailing close behind him and Kamiko quickly taking to the low branches of the trees. "I checked the surrounding area and there is a team not too far from where we are now. Only one of them was awake, and she didn't seem that intimidating. Not only that, but she was obviously tired. If we get there soon we should be able to catch them all off while they're just waking up."

"Sounds like an easy team to me," Kamiko said from above. "We probably don't even need to use anything all too powerful against this team." The others nodded in agreement as they all took off to quickly take away the team's scroll and get out of the forest as fast as possible. They would finish with two or three days to spend relaxing at the tower in the middle of the forest. That's exactly what would have happened to had they not immediately been blindsided an unrealistically powerful gust of wind.

Being caught by the wind they were all thrown to the side like rag dolls. Sakura and Sasuke were slammed into a couple of trees before falling to land on the ground with the Uchiha immediately assuming a defensive stance. Unfortunately for Kamiko she was forced much further away from the other two. It was as if she was hit by the center force of whatever drove the wind.

Spiraling through the air, Kamiko did her best to try and slowly reduce the speed at which she was moving. She tried grasping on to pass branches only to miss them or have them break off. Curling into a ball only seemed to make her fly even faster and aid in making her overtly dizzy. _Oh dear lord I can't handle this!_

**"Miko-chan just calm down. You just need to figure out how to at least grab on to something that won't break. Or try to catch on to a tree and stick to it with your hands like you would with your feet."**

_No I... Oh... Oh no!_ Just as that thought passed through her mind, Kamiko slammed back first into a tree. The breath was forcefully driven from her body just before she loss whatever content her stomach may have contained. The girl dropped and landed on her side as she continued to puke next to her.

As her stomach began to settle the girl groaned and rolled on to her back. Slowly her breath returned as well. "Oh dear Kamiko never let that happen again." A rough cough racked her body as she rolled into a kneeling position. "That... that was just horrible..."

A soothing warmth began to fill the girl's stomach. **"I should've known that was what was really what was wrong with you,"** Kurama giggled. **"Only you Miko-chan. Only you."**

"Ugh... How can you laugh at a girl's pain like that? If I ever have this happen to me again I'm going to die." Kurama fell into a fit of laughter at the young girl's over exaggerated pain. As the fox laughed Kamiko rolled on to her hands and knees. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before freezing in place. Slowly looking up, the girl found herself staring into the deadly eyes of a giant lightly colored snake. A full minute of with the only sound being the hissing of the snake until the hooded girl sighed. "Fuck my li..." Before she could even finish her sentence the snuck struck out and swallowed her and the surrounding ground whole. "...fe."

**"I don't think your life is that terrible Miko-chan. You just have a horribly low grade of luck when it comes to certain situations. Like this one now."**

_Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of this situation, why didn't you warn me that a freaking snake the size of my fucking apartment building was coming to attack me!?_

**"Oh that... I was too busy laughing at you to get it out before it was pretty much far too late for my warning to keep you from being eaten."**

._..I freaking... Hate you for this._

**"You LOVE ME!"**

Kamiko grimaced as she slid down the inside of body of the snake continuously. She was not finding her current position to be anywhere near what she ever thought she could possibly end up. The slime that she was being covered in repulsed her in both feeling and scent. Worse she could feel that it was slowly draining away her chakra to keep her struggling against the snake's will. _Oh dear Kami can it get any worse than this? Don't you dare answer that Kurama!_ The fox demon chuckled in the girl's head.

_Ugh,_ the young girl thought as she closed her eyes against the slime. _I can't take this much longer. I need to get out of here before its starts actually digesting me or something even worse._ She twisted as much as she could and hoped that she was facing towards the back of the snake.

Kamiko clenched her fist as she began to concentrate greatly. Her first began to gain a faint purple shine to it as chakra built up inside of it. She struggled to turn it so that her thumb was pointing away from and exhaled a heavy breath from her nostrils. Her fist glowed even brighter as she began to pull it down. _Wind Style: Gale Force Palm!_ Opening her fist, Kamiko thrusted her palm up with all might as a violent wind tore into the back of the snake.

From the outside view, everything looked quite fine and peaceful. The breeze was blowing slightly across the tree leaves. The sound of a near by stream trickling along made the surrounding view serene. Insects could be heard sounding off in harmony with a stream. A giant snake falls from the tree tops dead with its back ripped wide open. The impact shaking the ground and silencing everything.

"Ugh that sucked," Kamiko said as she slowly pulled herself out of the snake's back. She coughed as she fell over the edge of its torn apart skin. "I never want to experience that again." The girl stood and stumbled over to the nearby stream before dropping herself into it. She splashed about wildly to get rid of all the slime that was on her body before standing up again.

**"You know Miko-chan I could have burned away all of the slime on you with just a little bit of my chakra,"** Kurama said softly. The young kunoichi silently stared down at the water below her blankly.** "I'll just dry you off with its heat instead. You just get back to your team."**

"Hm? My team?" Kamiko looked around herself for a moment before itching the back of her head as her clothes slowly began to dry up. "Oh yeah, right. I kinda forgot about them. Guess I should figure out what the hell happened." The girl silently berated herself for actually forgetting about the other two Genin. Even if she didn't like them, she still needed the two of them.

Kamiko was by no means a sensor, but she knew enough about the basics of being one to feel a little ways around herself. Closing her eyes, she began to get a feel for the area around her. At first, she was only able to get a blurry feel of the area around her, that she could easily see with her own eyes open, before her field of view exploded outwards. Slowly she picked up on the direction from which she came. Curious about how far back she could sense, Kamiko pushed her field of view completely into the area.

As her field of view stretched on, Kurama smiled. **"It seems you have gotten much better with your sensing since you were younger Miko-chan. I remember the time when you could barely sense a gnat flying about your head."** Kamiko's only response was a small grunt. **"You would try so hard as I coached you on feel the area around you. It took you awhile, buy soon you were taking to it like a leaf to the rising wind. I bet that you could take... on... anyone..."**

Kamiko abruptly yanked back and opened her eyes as she gasped for air. She clenched her fist as she slowly calmed her breathing. "What was that?" A strong dark presence had suddenly appeared down Kamiko's intended path, and was too sickening to bear. It was twisted and seemed to try and ensnare Kamiko's senses.

**"Whoever is in that direction is definitely not someone to be dealt with lightly. The amount of blood lust and power that person holds... No. I can't even guarantee that what is over there is even human."** Akane said softly. **"Miko-chan..."**

Kamiko took a deep breath as she tilted her head back. "I need those two alive to pass on to the next part of the exam right?" Akane was silent as Kamiko trudge forward. "If I die I'm haunting Kakashi."

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura sat in front of the person before them shaking. Sasuke sat back and shook as he tried his best to harden his eyes into a glare. "Sakura..." Sasuke said as he turned his head to look at the girl. His eyes widened as he took in the sight of the girl. Sakura was kneeling with her hands dropped between her legs and shaking much like he was. The only difference was the pure terror and tears that were spilling from the young girl's eyes. _This is bad,_ Sasuke thought as he looked back towards the shinobi before them. _We have to get away from this guy. There's no way we can get through this without being killed._

The Kusa ninja chuckled darkly. He had unnaturally pale with long straight black hair and his lips painted a dark purple. He wore plain tan garbs with black pants and a thick rope like purple sash wrapped around his waist. Serpentine like eyes stared daggers at the two Genin before him. "Can you two no longer move," he asked yet stated. "What a pity," he sighed, "and I was looking forward to actually having something of a challenge here." With a disappointed look on his face, the ninja flicked two kunai at Sasuke and Sakura.

Just as they began to near them, Sasuke activated his Sharingan and launched himself at his petrified teammate. Hitting the girl with his body, the young Uchiha took off with Sakura in his arms, barely being missed by the speeding kunai. Jumping and moving up about the large branches quickly, the boy found a large enough branch to stop on and set his teammate down before slumping down the trunk of the tree. He grunted in pain as he reached down and yanked the kunai he had plunged into his thigh out.

As he pulled out the kunai, Sakura finally started to come to. Immediately upon noticing his injure the young girl freaked out. "Sasuke-kun! Are you alri..!" Sasuke's swift hand covered the girl's mouth as he placed a finger to his lips before looking around the edge of the tree trunk panting. Quieting down, Sakura looked at Sasuke's face and could barely recognize the panic in his eyes. _For Sasuke-kun to panic this much,_ she thought. _I've never seen him get like this before. We truly are in that much danger aren't we?_

A movement off to the side of Sakura caught her attention and made her gasp as she looked at what it was. With wide eyes she struggled against Sasuke's hand with muffled cries. Quickly she just shoved her crush's hand away from her face. "Sasuke-kun! Snake!"

Twisting about as fast as he could, Sasuke abandoned the tree branch they were on just as a large snake struck out at them. _Damn! I was panicking so much I didn't notice the snake sneaking up on us!_ Flipping through the air the boy watched the snake prepare for another strike as Sakura dropped down to the one below.

As the snake struck out once more, Sasuke found his senses clouded with fear. As the reptile opened its wide mouth he saw the image of the Kusa ninja's face just beside. He roared as he unleashed a hail of shuriken unto the snake. "Get away!" The projectiles tore into the mouth of the snake and took away most of its momentum. Sasuke landed not far from Sakura as the snake fell with a loud thump onto a lower branch. The two Genin paused to catch their control their breathing only to be interrupted by a sinister laughter.

Shocked, the two watched as a lump began to form on the side of the now dead snake. Slowly the lump opened up as the Kusa ninja gradually rose out of the snake's side. Slime covered the boy's body as he rose to a semi standing position and chuckled. ""You guys shouldn't relax for even a moment," he said while looking down. "Prey should always do it's best to run away." He looked up suddenly with his snake like tongue hanging low and pointed below his chin. "Especially when they're in the presence of a predator." Both Sakura and Sasuke took a step back from the boy's menacing look. The slime dripping from his body making him appear like an animated drowned body stalking them. Seeing their hesitation the boy launched himself at Sasuke by wrapping his body continuously around the thick tree branch like a snake as he advanced forward on the frozen Uchiha.

Eyes widening, Sakura's mind raced before she quickly snatched a handful of shuriken from her side pouch and launched them in front of the snake like figure. Stopping just inches before being impaled by the weapons, the boy twisted his head completely around to look at Sakura. _Shit! Shitshitshitshitshit!_ Yanking out a kunai frantically, Sakura barely blocked a punch from the Kusa ninja as he decided to launch himself at her instead of Sasuke.

"Hm, seems this scared little mouse has more fight to her than I originally thought." Grabbing Sakura's leg as she tried to kick him away, the boy spun and slammed her into a nearby tree trunk. "Lets see how much of a beating it's going to take to get rid of all that fight," he said delightfully. Sakura threw a wild punch at the guy only from him to grab her wrist pull her into a crushing headbutt. She staggered back back quickly tossed her kunai at him only for him to appear seemingly faze through it with how fast he moved around it. Faster than Sakura's eyes were able to follow, the Kusa ninja land two swift blows to the side of her rib cage with enough force to push her backwards. It was thanks only to the fact that she lost her footing and slipped onto her butt that Sakura saved herself from having both of her eyes impaled with two kunai that suddenly whizzed over the top of her head.

Gritting her teeth, Sakura turned and attempted to run towards cover only to have her path blocked by the a hail of shuriken. Jumping back, the girl looked up just to have the heel of a shoe connect with the middle of her forehead. She bent forward and stumbled into the boy that was now in front of her. Grabbing her hair he held the girl up as he began smashing his fist into her face over and over again before tossing her into the air. Sakura gasped as she flew up and slowly spun in the air. One moment she blinked to find herself looking towards the tree tops, the next she found her face to face with the Kusa ninja again. With a hard kick to the face Sakura cried out as she flew back and slammed inside a tree branch. Her body crumpled in on itself as blood vomited from her mouth before she slowly began to fall forward.

Stumbling, Sakura caught herself before falling to what would have been certain death. She wiped away from blood from her mouth as she looked up tiredly. The boy was gracefully falling towards her with pleased grin on his face. _There's so much power behind his attacks,_ she thought quietly as thee boy got closer. A gleam came from the inside of the his mouth as a blade slowly began to slide out. _He's so much faster than me too. I don't even think that Lee kid is as fast as this guy obviously is._ Sakura looked down as he got closer and her vision began to fade. _I'm so weak… Kamiko..._

Just as the Kusa ninja was just about to impale Sakura through her skull, a swift kick to the side of his head sent him veering off into the far below bushes of the forest floor. Sasuke grabbed Sakura around the waist as she fainted to prevent her from falling out of the branch. Breathing heavily, Sasuke looked at the unconscious girl's beaten face. A frown marred the young boy's face as he looked to where their enemy landed as he slowly stood back up to grin at the young Uchiha. _What is this guy? A fall from up here would kill just about anyone if they couldn't catch themselves._ Carefully resting Sakura's body down, Sasuke dropped down to land a few feet away from the Kusa nin. "Who are you?" he demanded as he glared into the boy's eyes. "You obviously aren't the average Genin participating in the exams. Are you even a Genin at all?"

The pale skinned ninja chuckled as he covered his face with one hand. "You are right my dear Sasuke-kun. I am not a Genin participating in these pointless exams that line you all up to be pitifully slaughtered." Sasuke gritted his teeth as the boy dropped his hand. "As for who I am, you have yet to earn the right to learn that Sasuke-kun, and it doesn't look like you will be if you let a girl fight your battles for you. Now come and die at my hands." With a wide grin, the Kusa ninja spread his arms wide as he laughed crazily.

Sharigan blazing, Sasuke took up a fighting stance with weapons in both hands and a kunai in his mouth. _Come to him and die he says. Hmph, I don't care who he is. I must survive to kill my older brother. At least that is what I believed._ Jumping into the air, he fired multiple kunai at the other boy who nimbly dodged each of them while rushing towards the young Genin. _If I can't risk my life in a situation like this, then how do I expect to kill someone like my brother?_ Using a tree to spin around, Sasuke vaulted himself forward past the oncoming boy with a spinning shuriken in hand. He spun around another tree trunk and loosed the spinning shuriken that the pale skinned boy easily dodged only to have to dodge a kunai that just barely scraped his cheek.

Attaching his body to the bark of the tree, Sasuke surprised the other boy by yanking back hard on the thin strings that were attached to the ends of the shuriken that he had already dodged. As it came spinning furiously back, the boy opened his mouth and caught in his mouth before turning back to Sasuke with a slight grin before realizing what he was doing. With a wide grin on his face, the young Uchiha brought his hands together and clenched his teeth down hard onto the strings. _Fire Style: Fire Dragon's Breath!_ Fire quickly rushed down the string connecting the two boy's faces and clung to the face of the pale skinned one. It knocked the boy nack and gave Sasuke time to catch his breath and feel a small amount of pride in how quickly he dominated an opponent he had previously thought too much to be handled. That's was until the chuckling started up once more.

Standing with flames burning on his face like its an everyday occurrence, the boy let his head drop. "To be able to use the sharingan so well at your age," he said as scarred smile rested on his face. "You truly are the one who carries the Uchiha blood in his veins. Just as I thought... I want you. Sasuke-kun, I had fun testing your power." With a glare from the pale boy, Sasuke felt himself freeze in place as he released a much larger ki than before. "You two truly are brothers. I see power in your eyes that surpass even that of Itachi's."

Upon hearing his adversary speak his brother's name, a small part of Sasuke snapped. "Who the hell are you?!" he screamed with his kekkei genkai glowing brighter than ever before. If there was anything that could set the young man off, it was the mentioning of his elder brother's name. Especially when placing the two brothers in comparison to each other.

The boy placed his hand on half of his face as it began to peel itself away. "You showed me that there truly is a part of you that has earned the right to know my name. Very well then. My name is Orochimaru. If you want to see me again, then survive and pass these exams my dear Sasuke-kun. Of course you will have to fight my men who have mixed their way into this exam." Placing his hands together, Orochimaru looked upon Sasuke superiorly. "Until next time Sasuke-kun." With a wide open mouth, Orochimaru stretched out his name and had his head race towards the frozen in place Uchiha. Latching onto the boy's neck he sunk his snake like fangs into it. As he released the boy a strange seal swirled into existence. Jis head slunk back as Sasuke fell to his knees and cried out in pain as he clawed at the mark. He screamed and screamed as or Orochimaru watched until the boy's Sharingan faded away and fainted. _That mark is my parting gift unto you. Seek me out soon Sasuke-kun._ As he turned to leave it was only Orochimaru's many years of experience on the battlefield that saved him from being sliced in half by the large incoming zanbato that lodged its way into a tree's trunk. Twisting far above the blade in a spinning jump, Orochimaru glared down at the blade. _That sword... Zabuza? No he is rumored to be dead and would have no reason to appear at these exams. Then who?_

With a sigh, Kamiko dropped down on to the the handle of her blade with a slightly puffed cheek. "I was really hoping to kill you in one fucking blow, but you had to go and dodge my attack didn't you. Stupid bastard."

A grin slithered on to Orochimaru's face. He hung upside down from the bottom of a tree branch as he looked down at Kamiko. "Well standing there wouldn't have done much for my health you see. That's something I am quite particular about keeping up you see. Ah, it can't be helped."

"I guess that can't be helped," Kamiko shrugged as she hopped off the handle of her Seversword. "You can't be blamed for not wanting to die." Ignoring Orochimaru's curiously watchful gaze, the young Uzumaki girl walked over to where Sasuke laid unconscious as he twitched. She grabbed the neck of his shirt and tossed him up as far as she could. Following after his body she calmly passed the still present Orochimaru and caught Sasuke as he fell back towards her. Hefting him over her shoulder she marched his limp form over to Sakura's body. As she approached the girl, Kamiko observed her wounded face and bruised arms. _Did she actually try to fight back?_ The hooded girl placed Sasuke down next to their teammate before turning around to look down upon Orochimaru. "You're still here..." _Damn! He's still here! Go the fuck away!_

A false frown slid onto Orochimaru's face as he feigned disappointment. "Oh dear me. Have I overstayed my welcome with your team? Things were just starting to get interesting." As he said the last part his smile returned as he licked his lips slowly.

Kamiko slightly raised an eyebrow. "Dude... gross." _SERIOUSLY!_ Kamiko rubbed the back of her head through her hoodie as she stuffed one hand in the pocket she pushed the Seversword into. She back and looked at the person below her with a bored expression. "Be that as it may though I believe you have toyed with my... teammates enough. I don't exactly what you did to them nor how much damage they truly suffered from you, but enough is enough. I need them to pass these stupid exams. So if you would be so kind..." _LEAVE ALREADY!_

Kamiko's words wiped the smile clean off Orochimaru's face. He knew very little about the girl in front of him. No, what he truly knew was next to nothing about the girl. All he knew was the girl's name, and that was all he needed to know to have an interest in the girl before him. _If she is the child of the women I think she is then this girl just might prove somewhat entertaining._ The thought brought a smile to his face. Some people would always be a target in his mind. Even if they were already dead, there was a good chance they had offspring. "Ah, you are quite right Kamiko-chan. I have spent enough time playing with your teammates and it's about time I left them be. In exchange I believe that we could enjoy each other's company instead."

_I highly, highly, HIGHLY doubt that,_ Kamiko thought with a frown.

**"Give it up Miko-chan,"** Kurama said with a slight irritation with Orochimaru's opposed familiarity with Kamiko. It didn't help that he tickled a part of memory that suggest he was a very pleasant human. **"This person is not going anywhere anytime soon without some prompting. I'm not sure of anything about him other than that you need to be cautious about how you approach him. There must be a reason he is sticking around to fight you... Other than the fact that you didn't just let him leave silently like you should have."**

Kamiko grunted. _What's done is done. He won't leave now and that is all that really matters at this point. He doesn't seem as intimidating when I'm not feeling the amount of malice that he emanates from himself. Plus I couldn't tell that he was leaving. I just reacted._) Shifting her weight to the balls of her feet, Kamiko frowned slightly more as she let her hand fall from the back of her head. "Well if you're not just going to leave kindly I guess we can entertain each other. Though it doesn't seem quite fair. You know my name already yet I don't know yours at all."

Chuckling, Orochimaru peeled away the burned skin from his face with ease. "Unlike the girl you intrigue me to the point that you seem like someone who might deserve to know my name. Strangely, unlike Sasuke-kun, you also seem like a much more entertaining opponent. So forgive me for not introducing myself to you earlier my Kamiko-chan. My name is Orochimaru and I..." Once again it was the man's years of battlefield knowledge that allowed him to dodge the sudden swipe of the Seveersword that would have taken his head otherwise and move onto another branch.

Frowning, Orochimaru looked at the girl that was now crouching in the spot he had previously been standing. Her body was slightly shaking as she held her arm out with her large blade once again sticking into the trunk of a tree. Kamiko kept her head down as she momentarily stared at the ground before releasing a heavy breath. As she slowly stood back up she yanked her weapon out of the tree and wiped it down to her side with her head still hung down. "I thought that fucking hickey you left on Sasuke's neck looked kinda familiar to me. The way you moved too..." A fang filled grin spread onto the girl's face as her grip on the handle of the Seversword tightened and her hands became clawed. "Orochimaru. The wretched traitor of the Leaf Village, I'm going to enjoy kicking your ass, and once I'm done beating the shit out of you like a rag doll..." Lifting her head suddenly, Kamiko met the legendary ninja's smirking face with a wildly smiling face and crimson red eyes. **"I'M GONNA HAND YOUR HEAD OVER TO ANKO-NEECHAN AND LET HER FLUSH IT DOWN THE TOILET LIKE THE PIECE OF SHIT YOU ARE!"**

* * *

As the sun slid out of the sky lazily after an exhausting day, Anko flew through the forest as fast as she could push herself to go. _It's almost nighttime,_ she thought to herself. _I have to find him quickly. Once it has gone completely dark I will be at a severe disadvantage against him._ Growling, the Snake Mistress clenched her fist. _But why? Why is he back in the village at a time like this. What is his purpose for returning now? Well I guess it makes no difference to me. If you have come to this village then we will settle things as they are now. You are now a handbook S dangerous person. I have to stop you even if it ends up costing me my life, and if that's not possible then I most I must slow him down until the ANBU Black Ops arrive. That is my curse... Orochimaru._

As she flipped over a particularly large tree branch a picture fluttered out of Anko's pocket and landed on a small bird's nest. Anko abruptly stopped and turned around for the picture only to watch as a slightly large snake came by and snatched away half of the picture and the curious bird that was next to it. Eyes widening, the women took off at even higher speeds. _Dear Kami please. Please let her be safe!_ Behind her the half of the picture flowed away on the wind with have a smiling Kamiko on it.

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura laid silently next to each other in their dark worlds as the world around shook violently over and over again. At one point the two were nearly blown away from the from of one of one of the area's more aggressive mini-quakes that sparked a quite vicious gust of wind. After that Kamiko moved a way's away from her two teammates at the prompting of Kurama.

Orochimaru slithered away as he was forced once again to avoid Kamiko's Seversword as she slammed it into the ground. The place at which the man was previously standing was torn apart in nasty explosion of force. Launching herself out of the crater that she made, swiped at the snake's face with a clawed hand as he leaned out of her range and she spun her body to avoid being skewered by a handful of kunai that he unleashed. As soon as her foot touched the ground the girl slammed the sword into the ground and began striking wildly. She once again swiped at his face expecting him to duck under it as he did and landed a vicious kick to the side of his head that sent him flying towards a tree. Charging after his body, Kamiko reared back with a open clawed hand.

Mere seconds after Orochimaru slammed into the tree, Kamiko slammed her clawed paw into his abdomen. The tree base exploded into tiny shard like splinters that flew in all direction in a puff a brown dust as the two flew on. Letting out a primal roar the young girl drove Ororchimaru forward with her through tree after tree. **"WIND STYLE: GALE FORCE PALM!"** Pushing him forward with even more strength the young Uzumaki child sent the snake sailing into the side of an amazingly large tree with a gale a razor sharp wind blazing after him. With a resounding explosion the tree fell on top of Orochmaru as it lost its bottom half along with many other nearby trees that piled on top of the each other to make what appeared to be a makeshift grave from the ex Konaha ninja.

Kamiko turned a fiery gaze behind her as she felt Orochimaru's malice filled presence appear behind her. Orochimaru looked upon the girl in front of him with a pleased grin. Kamiko's hood had fallen off her head as her blazing red hair whip about her body in many directions. Her body was practically soaked up in the demonic flow of Kurama's chakra as she let her rage fill her. While standing with her back to the legendary ninja but her head turned the girl seemed truly demonic to Orochimaru. _I knew the power of a jinchuriki could be immense, but this is untrained girl and she is wielding the power quite skillfully. That or she is in just big of a rage. Either way she could turn out to be just as much, if not more, of a prodigy than Sasuke._ Opening his mouth, the snake pulled a long blade out of his mouth before flicking it to the side. "This has gotten much more interesting than I originally thought would be. Come to me and my Kusanagi. Show me more of your rage Kamiko-chan. Show that I can get back to make more little Ankos..." He barely finished saying his ex student's name before having to bring up his sword to defend himself from being sliced in half by the Seversword. Ororchimaru was unsure as to how the blade suddenly appeared in the girl's hand again, but that didn't bother him in the least bit.

For a moment the two were stuck in a power struggle. With a grunt and a small of amount of focused wind nature, Orochimaru was able to momentarily force Kamiko away from him before the two engaged in a furious bout of swordplay. Their swords clashed against each other in close combat as the two both refused to jump back away from the other one. Anyone watching them from the outside would be astonished at the speed at which the two were striking out at each other. Neither was giving ground as their blades continuously met with resounding clashes. The force of their attacks forced out sharp gust of winds that raged in all directions and scarred the earth beneath their feet and the nearby trees around them. Their blades could barely be seen as they swung them at each other, intent on ending the other's life with the very next blow.

Ororchimaru's eagerness grew with each passing moment of their bout. It had been much too long since he was last given the time actually enjoy testing the skills of another ninja on the battlefield. Kamiko may have been only a Genin, and a young one at that, but the amount of bloodlust and power at her disposal was enough to compensate for that. As time went on the snake progressively got faster and faster. It was soon at the point that Kamiko was no longer just attacking, but attacking and defending herself, and soon she was put completely on the by the superior shinobi. Roaring again, Kamiko struck out with a kick that forced Orochimaru to jump back. Before his feet even touched the ground the girl followed with a powerful swing of the Seversword that connected with the Kusanagi and sent Orochimaru skyward. She didn't even allow his body to finish accelerating upwards before appearing above him and with an immense downstroke from the blade, Kamiko slammed her blade into the snake who blocked the attack once again only to be thrown down towards the earth twice as fast as he was flying skywards. His slammed into the ground caused it to crack and splinter up. Still not finished the girl charged down and plowed her fist with all of her strength into the face of the man. The ground momentarily cracked into large pieces around then before practically exploding all around them.

As a large dust cloud kicked up, Kamiko stood with wide eyes as she searched for her target. Killing Orochimaru was the only thing that was running through her mind and nothing else mattered to the girl. Him getting away from her was not an allowed option. As the dust finally settled she continued looking for the man only to find no trace of him. She slammed her fist into the ground with a resounding thud as her anger only grew in size. As her anger grew, Kurama's chakra sped through her system even faster causing the young girl to cough up blood and stumble...

..and that was all the opening that Orochimaru needed. Bursting up from the ground the snake sent Kusanagi sailing into Kamiko's chest and through her lung. Shock registered on the girl's face as she flew back and was pinned against a tree. She roared in immense pain as she kicked about and tried to dislodge the weapon from her chest. Her primal screams mixed with the sight of her flailing about wildly enticed Orochimaru greatly. He slowly walked up to the girl and placed a hand on her cheek after a moment longer of watching her as the other hand slowly withdrew the blade from her chest. She stopped struggling as she glared death into the man's amused eyes. "Everything about you screams that you are that woman's daughter. I hated everything there was to hate about your mother my dear Kamiko-chan. You can't believe the amount of sadness I felt when I was cheated out of getting the pleasure of killing the women herself. I was going to settle with killing you in her stead, but you are so much more valuable then to be dealt away with like a piece of trash. Like Sasuke you will soon seek me out." With a wide mouth, the man went to sink his fangs into the girl's neck for her take a deep breath and release a roar filled with hatred. With power of Kurama's demonic energy behind the roar it sent Orochimaru tumbling backwards with Kusanagi in hand.

Kamiko dropped to her feet and stumbled momentarily before gripping the handle of her Seversword with both of her hands tightly and lifting it high above her head. Curiously, Orochimaru watched as he picked himself off the ground and observed the girl once more. The demonic chakra all about her body began growing at a much faster rate until it was to the point it covered the point of the blade above. The ground beneath the girl's feet cracked and began giving way from the pressure and previous abuse it had already faced. A chillingly wild grin split Kamiko's face in half as her body bent backwards.

_Run!_ Was the one instinct that sprung up in Orochimaru's mind and heart that told him that he was in danger as Kamiko suddenly swung the Seversword with all her strength and one last scream and slammed it into the ground. As the swinging arch of the blade came to an end a fiery bust of scorching hot wind and demonic energy that tear apart anything was released. It raced forward with immense speed and power and tore apart everything in its path while leaving burn marks on everything next to it.

Everyone in the village felt fear suddenly enter their hearts for a reason that many were unable to understand. All of them that were old enough though had flashback of the Kyubi attack many years ago. The only ones who would ever understand were those shinobi and kunoichi who could see the Forest of Death and the tower of red death that that nearly raced out of it before stopping just before the gates, though the heat was still strong enough to partially melt the gate. If any one had wings to soar above the forest as the attack had been raging they would have thought the attack nothing more than an oddly beam of spiky red fire.

At the attacks origin Kamiko wavered on her feet, She swayed back and forth as she used her sword to hold herself up. **"Kamiko that was extremely foolish of you,"** Kurama said with obvious disappointment in her voice. **"You could have killed yourself with the amount of chakra you were taking from me. We have not trained for you to use it like that and you..."**

_SHUT THE HELL UP KURAMA! THAT FUCKER FINALLY PAID FOR THE SHIT THAT HE DID TO ANKO-ONEECHAN!. SO I DON'T GIVE A HOT DAMN ABOUT WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED WHEN NOTHING FUCKING HAPPENED!_ Anger still burned furiously in the very pit of Kamiko's stomach as she stuffed the Seversword back into her pocket and stumbled about.

**"Young lady I will NOT have you speaking to me like! You are angry and I can understand that, but you need to watch that tongue of yours before it gets you in trouble!"**

_OH I'M SO FUCKING SCARED NOW! THE BIG BAD FOX IS GETTING ALL MAD WITH ME! SOMEONE CALL FOR BACKUP WE HAVE A SERIOUS PISS FIT GOING ON HERE NOW!_

**"If you don't watch your tone Kamiko I..."** Kurama was not trying to argue with the young girl but found no way past the girl's rage.

_SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! I DON'T NEED TO LISTEN TO YOUR SHIT! I DID WHAT HAD TO BE FUCKING DONE TO BEAT THE TEME WHO CAUSED HARM TO SOMEONE PRECIOUS. YOU KNOW, THE TYPE OF PERSON I THOUGHT I WAS TO YOU!_

**"Kamiko... you are precious to me... Just.. what you were doing was..."** Slight hurt had entered the foxe's voice, but Kamiko was unable to hear it.

_WAS WHAT!? THE WRONG THING TO DO RIGHT!? THAT'S COMING FROM A FUCKING DEMON WHO RAMPAGED ON A VILLAGE KILLED HUNDREDS FOR NO FUCKING REASON! I FIGHT TO KILL ONE PERSON TO PROTECT SOMEONE, AND YOU SLAUGHTER A BUNCH OF INNOCENTS FOR NO REASON AT ALL! YEAH I'M TOTALLY THE FUCKED UP ONE HERE!_ Kamiko growled as she crossed her arms slowly and kneeled down. She was finding it somewhat hard to breath, but cared little about that.

**"That was... uncalled for Miko-ch..."**

_DON'T YOU DARE CALL ME THAT YOU BITCH! I JUST KILLED A FUCKING S CLASSED SHINOBI ON MY OWN! FUCKING S CLASSED! I THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE AT LEAST A SMALL BIT PROUD OF ME, BUT NO YOU JUST TRY TO MAKE ME FEEL LIKE SHIT FOR IT! FUCK YOU KYUBI! I DON'T NEED SOME BITCH LIKE YOU TRYING TO DO THAT TO ME!_ Stunned and hurt silenced answered Kamiko as struggled back to her feet. "Just leave me the fuck alone," she said slowly as she turned around.

Turning around brought the girl face to face with a smirking Orochimaru. "Hello, I can't leave you alone just yet my dear." Grabbing the surprised and drained girl by the throat with his tongue, the snake lifted the girl's clothing to reveal her seal that was clearly showing on her stomach. Quickly flashing through a few hand signs and having one hand glow with oddly colored chakra, the man slammed his fingers and thumb into the girl's abdomen before dropping her to the ground. As the Kamiko coughed horribly and withered on the ground, Orochimaru smiled as he turned and walked away. _That girl is a loose cannon. While she is quite entertaining she is too unstable for me to leave unchained if I want my plans to go uninterrupted. Until we meet again... Kamiko-chan._

Laying on her side, Kamiko coughed violently as her body shook horribly. Her sight was slowly beginning. _Damn, what did that fucker do to me? My chakra feels all wrong and I can't feel..._ The girl gasped as she felt about herself frantically. _Kurama? Kurama? Where are you? Hey Kurama?!)_ No matter how silent the fox demon would get, the two had become show connected on an emotional level that Kamiko was always able to sense the woman inside her. Now she sensed nothing but emptiness. _Kurama come on this isn't funny! Okay I'm sorry. I was wrong and you were right now stop playing around. Answer me already!_ Tears slid from her eyes as she rolled onto her back and all that was left in her eyes was a small pin prick of light. _Kura-chan... please… please… i'm sorry… please answer me Kura-chan… _Finally she fell into complete darkness.

_Please don't leave me... don't leave me… MOTHER!..._

…

…

…

_...Miko-chan..._

Anko was being treated as many ANBU Black Ops members scattered about the forest in search of Orochimaru and to see if any Genin were unfortunate enough to be caught up in Kamiko's rage filled attack. Laying on her back to the side of the trench dug by said attack, Anko had severe burns that cover most of her right arm and side along with a few other injuries from foolishly facing Orochimaru in her injured and weakened state. As the medic ninja attended to her wounds the woman's mind drifted away...

_...Miko-chan...Please...Please be ok.._.

* * *

**A/N: And I'll call that a wrap. Again I'm sorry,**_** I really hate making people wait,**_** for the long wait for this chapter, but I'm just happy to have finally finished after so long. Now that it's finally done I freed up a bit more space in my brain. Hopefully you enjoyed the chapter. What did you all think of Kamiko's fight? Both of them with Ororchimaru and Kurama. I was going for the overly rebellious bitch daughter at the end there. Hope I hit it. Well, until next time my friends.**


	6. Chpt VI: Effects

**A/N: Hello readers... I apologize for the long absence I took, but I unfortunately had many things preventing me from writing... By many things I admit that it was allowing myself to fall to the large dark side of my emotions, which I should probably see someone about, and hating everything that breaths. I came pretty close to never returning to fanfiction or anything else that requires me to be alive at one point, but for now I was able to push some of that behind me write this chapter. So hopefully you can enjoy this chapter, and I'm sorry again for taking so long.**

**Disclaimer: Not a manga artist/writer/publisher or anime editor/creator**

* * *

_The doctor said it would help,_ she thought as she did as she was told, _but this is really uncomfortable and it hurts my throat even more too. Why does it have to be something so big?_ Pulling back a little girl shook her head as she let out a ragged cough. "I-Is this really gonna help my throat feel better Doctor Kimura? I feel like it is making it worse," the little girl said in a rasped voice. "I mean I trust you and everything, but it really hurts m.."

...

_This is wrong. All of these treatments are always wrong. Why do I keep letting him do this?_ A tear rolled down the young girl's face as she looked up at the doctor. He had short light brown hair with emerald green eyes. He wasn't a very tall me and appeared to be quite thin under his usual doctor's attire. The man was possibly in his late twenties or early thirties judging from his looks. Having never felt the need to ask his age the girl was unsure of it.

...

The pain had become unbearable. The young girl began to cough uncomfortably. She tried to pull her head away again, but the doctor held it in place with all his might. _Let me go! It hurts! It hurts!_ With her tiny hands balled into tight fist the girl pounded on the man's sides as hard as she could to help push her away. Her cries were muffled as she tried to free herself.

Just as she was starting to finally pull away from the older guy he yanked her forward with all her strength. Eyes widening, tears flowed freely from the girls as she stared up at the grinning doctor's face. She could feel a thick, warm liquid fill her throat in random spurts. The girl clawed at his sides as she began to choke. She tried frantically to breathe but was unable to even swallow the disgusting matter in her throat.

...

Just as the little girl's eyes closed all the way the doctor let go of her head and pulled away from her. He watched as the girl slumped forward off of the chair he had her kneeling in and onto the floor. She laid on the floor unmoving as Kimura looked down at her. He nudged her side with the tip of his foot and frowned as he rolled her over. "Hm. Didnt expect you to start choking to death. Well almost to death." Reeling back Kimura slammed his foot into the girl's side. It lifted her slightly off the ground as she gasped.

...

The young girl softly cried in pain as the doctor tossed down a few dirty rags. "I can't have the floor getting all dirty. The Hokage wouldn't be pleased with the mess. Clean it." He sat in a chair as the girl slowly grabbed the rags and began cleaning the mess up.

She looked at it the white substance on the floor through blurred eyes as she slowly scrubbed at it. The girl found it hard to breath with her mouth closed and let it hang open. A bitter taste filled the girls mouth that slightly over powered the coppery taste of blood dripping from her mouth. "... ow... My throat still hurts... you... ow... promised it would help..." the girl plead in a rusty voice.

A foot was placed on the tearful girl's head. "I said it would help as long as you were a good girl. Good girl's do as they are told and don't strike out at those in charge. Because you were a bad girl it didnt work. We'll just have to do it again later. I can only give this treatment so many times in a day."

Kimura chuckled as the girl continued cleaning with the dirty rags. She had already gotten all of the white mess up and was repeatedly wiping the same spots just below her mouth as blood and drool fell from it. The girl wished she could just leave. She always hated having to see him, but Yuji and Yukai were still in training and could only do minor things like bandaging and shots. The child closed her eyes. _Am I really that bad of a girl? I don't mean to be. I just don't want this anymore. I want... I want... I want..._ Before the girl could figure out the end of her thought she felt the foot fall sideways from her head.

The girl opened her eyes back up and realed back with a gasp. There was blood all across the floor and wall before her. Looking to the side of her she saw Kimura's bare foot laying next to her with a piece of a bloodied bone sticking out the top of it. It was speckled with blood on it. Letting put a strangled cry she kicked away the foot and turned to run only to slip into a large puddle of blood.

The child cringed and shook as she curled into herself before slowly inching her body forward. She didnt know why but she knew that she shouldn't look up. That getting out of the room she was would make her safe and clean. Getting up onto her hands and knees the girl crawled frantically towards her freedom. Just before she could get within reaching distance the door something feel in front of her splashing blood into her eyes. Quickly rubbing away the blood she looked down at what fell before her... And let the loudest scream that had ever left her mouth as her world began violently shake.

* * *

"Kamiko. Kamiko. Hey Kamiko wake up already!" Gasping for air, Kamiko's eyes flew open as she arched her and clawed the ground with her hands. The girl gurgle slightly as someone shook her body aggressively. "Kamiko what's wrong?! Pull yourself together already. Y-gahh!" The person holding the young kunoichi's shoulders was clothes-lined to the ground as the girl shot up suddenly. She quickly straddled the person's waist while wrapping a hand around their throat. The other hand snatched out a kunai to plunge into the defenseless person's head.

Hands grabbed Kamiko from all around and held her in placed. She twisted her head to her side to come face to face with Sasuke's eyes. "What the hell do you think you're doing dobe?" The girl looked at the boy blankly before slowly looking around her at the other people holding her back. There was a boy with eyes the vaguely reminded her of Hinata. He was obviously a Hyuga. One with prepackaged superiority complex from the look in his eyes. Another boy held onto her legs and with bowl haircut. She immediately knew his name to be Rock Lee from the cards that the guy with the glasses had. At least she hoped no one else would wear that horribly green jumpsuit. The last person holding her was Choji. His grip wasn't too tight on her, but the look in his eyes told her he wouldn't hesitate to crush her if needed. The boy's hands were enlarged and wrapped around her waist.

"Choji... could you maybe... let me go? The rest of you too. Its really weird... having all of you touching me." Choji and Lee gave the girl looks of uncertainty while Sasuke and the Hyuga just glared at her. "Please?" None of the boys moved an inch. To be honest she was sure their grip on her was tightening. The fact was starting to piss her off. Not only that but the ground beneath Kamiko was constantly shifting in a really annoying way while there was a slight scent of snake in the air. _Wait... The ground is shifting?_

Kamiko looked down at the ground to see Sakura's squirming form beneath her. The girl looked pretty beat up. Much more so than what Kamiko could recall having seen her be. Her hair also appeared to be much shorter than what Kamiko remembered as well. "What... the hell happened to you?" Sakura gasped as she struggled to breathe and Kamiko noticed her hand wrapped tightly around the other girl's throat. Shocked, Kamiko slowly released her grip on the girl's neck.

When her grip had fully relaxed away from the other girl's the boys released their grip on her and backed away. All except Sasuke who positioned himself between his two female teammates. His usual stotic glare challenging the girl in front of him. Behind Sakura coughed and sputtered as air was allowed to reenter her lungs. "What's your issue dobe? Your head get split open or something."

After the confusion on Kamiko's face cleared away the girl narrowed her eyes dangerously at the Uchiha. She leaned back slightly with a hand placed on her hip as she looked at the boy before her. "No it's not, but if you don't step away from me then someone's head will be." Sasuke clenched his fist and hardened his glare at the girl. The tension between the two quickly escalating.

"Oi. That's enough you two. Now isn't the time for you guys to be getting overly troublesome." Kamiko pouted slightly as she turned her head to look at Shikamaru. He was standing off to the side of her next to a wide eyed Ino. "And it doesn't matter which one of you started being troublesome first, just stop it."

Kamiko frowned and grumbled under her breath as she turned and walked away from Sasuke effectively killing the tension. She looked back to see Sakura being helped to her feet by Sasuke as Ino jogged over to the other girl. The red head leaned against a tree and sighed while running a hand through her hair. "What the fuck is going on here?" she mumbled to herself before pulling her hood over her head. The girl let our a shaky breath and rubbed her throat softly. _And why... did I have that nightmare? It's been years since I last had one of those that was that srong._ As hard as Kamiko thought she was unable to come up with any clear reason for experiencing old nightmares again. As she continued surfing her mind for an answer a hand fell on her shoulder.

"Hey, you alright Kamiko?" Shikamaru asked as he leaned against the tree next to her. "That was completely unlike you just then. You've never just attacked someone like that for waking you up before. Even if being woken up is completely troublesome."

Kamiko placed her hands behind her head and shrugged with complete indifference. "I'm just fine. Sakura should just be more careful of who she attempts to wake up in certain ways. I mean hell, was she trying to shake me to death?! How long have I been out anyways?" Shikamaru shook his head while being glad they were out of earshot...

"You looked like you were having a pretty insane nightmare," a girl said as she approached the two. The girl two buns on either side of her head that matched the color of her dark brown eyes. She wore a pink sleeveless blouse with red trimming and yellow fastening buttons down the middle. Dark green pants covered her legs with blue sandals to protect her feet. The girl stopped in front of the Nara and Uzumaki as she placed her hands on her hips. "Your friend seemed to be pretty worried about you when she tried to wake you up. Don't you think you should apologize for attacking her for no reason? I mean, she is already starting to bruise."

An attitude filled pout adorned Kamiko's face as she looked at the other girl. A quick once over made the red head grunt inwardly. _From the way she holds herself this girl must think she's hot shit._ "And who might you be again that I should care about what you have to say?" An elbow to the side made Kamiko glare at a certain sighing Nara.

The girl took a step forward as she glared into Kamiko's eyes. "My name is Higurashi Tenten a member of Team 9, or Team Guy to any who sees it differently. I'm also a Genin of Konoha just like you. The only difference being..." Tenten step forward until she was chest to chest with Kamiko. "...I've got much more experience than you. I can tell just from looking at you that you think you're pretty damn good, and maybe you're right, but I can assure you I'm better. So apologize to your teammate before you piss me off."

Kamiko blinked with wide eyes as she looked at Tenten before they slowly began to narrow. She didn't expect the other girl to just come straight at her the way she did. The red head was actually not used to being confronted on the level that she just was, and for some reason she found it pissed her off. "Before I piss you off huh? Well I don't care about that cause you're still no one important. I'm not apologizing to anyone for anything." Kamiko gave Tenten a heavy shove to the chest and made the girl stumble backwards as she stepped forward. "Especially to someone I don't really like because someone I already don't like told me to, so leave me alone before you figure out how pissed off I am."

As Tenten regained her balance the girl's face turned a deep shade of crimson red. With shaking fist she started slowly back towards the red head who had pushed her away. The tension between the two females picking up with each and every step. Tenten's hands slid to the weapons pouch on the side of each of her legs as she readied to attack. "Tenten that's enough." Kamiko lazily let her eyes drift to the voice's source while Tenten whipped her head around. The girls looked at the Hyuga as he looked straight at them while somehow managing to also look down on them. Tenten went to argue with the boy only to be cut off. "We don't have the time to waste on a nobody like her. You could easily beat this girl anyways. Save the loser's humiliation for a time when it's actually needed. It's time to go."

Tenten gritted her teeth as she glanced back at Kamiko before walking away towards her green clad. She grabbed the boy Lee by the collar of his shirt as she past by him with a scowl on her face. "Tenten what is wrong? The look on your face is most unyouthful." The girl just threw the boy a quieting glance before stomping out of the clearing they were in with the Hyuga following after them calmly.

As they left Sakura, Choji, and Ino watched them with confused looks on their faces. Having been just a bit to far away to hear or take any notice of the confrontation between the two kunoichi. Sasuke on the other hand was glaring straight at Kamiko. He had seen the entire argument between the girls, and was curious as to what had transpired between them.

Kamiko stood unmoving as she looked at the spot where the Hyuga boy used to be. She was hoping that the Hyuga would mysteriously reappear back in the spot he was in and suddenly catch ablaze from the intensity of her glare. Of course she knew it wouldn't happen but a girl can dream. "You can let me go now," Kamiko said with a sigh as she closed her eyes. Slowly standing from a kneeling position, Shikamaru released his hold on the girl in front of him. He watched the girl as her body relaxed and she leaned back onto the tree next to him. "Team Guy huh?"

"What was that? You had to go and pick a fight with somebody as soon as you woke up didn't you?" Shikamaru scratched the side of his head while he placed a hand on his hip. "Why couldn't you just apologize?"

"It's simply really. I don't like that girl and won't let her boss me around just because she feels she can." Kamiko stretched and pushed away from the tree they were leaning on before turning to look at her friend. "Plus, if I apologize it's like I'm admitting that I was wrong for what I did."

"And you weren't?" The two friends looked at each other for a moment before they both sighed and looked towards the sky. "Let's not worry about it anymore. This entire situation is just far too troublesome." Kamiko just shruggled in response. "...and we're half way into the second day of the test."

"Hey Shika we should head out now," Ino said as she, Choji, Sasuke, and Sakura approached the two as a deep frown came over Kamiko's face. "These guys look like they're good and we still need to get out of this stupid forest and away from... here." Choji frowned at Ino as she stumbled on the end of her sentence. "I mean, the sound of us all fighting might draw other teams here. You know. To pick off tired prey or something like that."

Shikamaru sighed as Kamiko gave the blond girl an odd look. "There was a fight?" she asked in a surprised tone as she looked around before looking at Shikamaru. "You guys were fighting? Here?" Just from her initial look around, Kamiko was able to tell that they weren't in the same spot as they were when they faced off against Orochimaru. She and the snake didn't clear the land, they scarred it while they fought.

The lazy genius lifted his hands in the air as he walked to his teammates. "Yea, it was completely troublesome, but we did. Don't ask me to explain what happened either. That would be even more troublesome than the fight itself," he mumbled.

Kamiko pouted slightly as she looked at Shikamaru. "Fine then. Get out of here. I don't need you to figure something that simple out. I'll use that favor you oh me for something else then." With a groan, a wave, and a shaky smile Team 10 disappeared into the forest. Leaving Team 7 standing alone in the clearing with an awkward silence hanging around them.

The three Genin looked at each other with boredom, uncertainty, and slight interest. Before Kamiko could voice her question to the other two, Sasuke turned away and started walking away. "We should get to the tower as soon as possible. There's no reason to stay in this forest any longer. The sooner we're out the better."

Sakura nodded to in a agreement with Sasuke as she gave Kamiko a weary smile. "We'll tell you what happened once we reach the tower. I promise. Right now I really think that Sasuke is right. The sooner the better." The pink haired girl turned around and ran after the disappearing Uchiha.

Kamiko frowned after Sasuke, Sakura, and the lack of her wanted information. She wasn't completely sure what it was, but she knew something was being hidden from. Whatever that something was, she didn't want to let it go anytime soon. For now though she knew that it was best to leave the area that they were currently in and quickly get to the tower. _They'll tell me what happened the moment we reach the tower and not a second later._

* * *

The three Genin kept a steady pace as they tree hopped through the forest. The sun hung low in the sky as the second day of the test was drawing a too a close. The tower was not much further away from them as they had covered a considerable amount of ground. No words had been spoken between the three other than to call out warnings for traps left by other Genin. They moved in a backwards triangular formation with Sakura and Sasuke at the front, and Kamiko hanging a ways to the back. It had seemed by default that this was how they would move through out the forest as Kamiko had little will to actually close the gap between her and her teammates. She was fine observing how they were acting.

The girl watched how they seemed to gravitate towards each other and then pull apart slightly. As if there was something they both felt the need to talk about, but one or both of them was unsure how to talk about it. Sasuke seemed to been even more rigid than he usually was. Every inch of his body screamed out stress, and the boy kept reaching up to grab the area between his neck and left shoulder. Something that was making Kamiko extremely uncomfortable.

_Sakura seems worried_, Kamiko thought as she narrowed her eyes on the two. The pink haired girl would occasionally toss unsure glances at the Uchiha prodigy and ask questions of him. Questions that seemed to be shot down without answers from the looks of it. _I wonder what she's asking him? It has to be something about what happened back there since she isn't hanging all over him while asking._ Kamiko growled slightly and looked at the raven haired boy who momentarily cast a glance back to see if she was still keeping up with them. Or possibly to see if she was within earshot. Both of them were possible in the Kamiko's mind at the time. As time past the red head grew more and more agitated. She was unsure as to why their secrecy over what happened was getting to her the way it was, but it was and that was all that matter at the moment. The girl needed answers, and after running for as long as they have been, but something else still bothered her more than the way her teammates were acting.

_Kura-chan... Are you... Are you there..?_ Like all the times before now the girl was met with nothing but the sound of the wind passing by her. Kamiko slid a hand over her stomach as she sighed and gazed down. She knew that it was a futile effort, but since they parted ways with Shikamaru and his team she had been trying to reach out to Kurama on and off. Not once had she gained a reply or even the faintest feeling of the fox women's presence.

The girl cursed Orochimaru under her breath as she, for now, gave up on making contact with Kurama. (_If it hadn't been for that snake being here none of this would've happened. Damn it all! Why did he have to take Kura-chan from me? Why couldn't he have just killed one of those two instead?_

Glaring back up at the backs of the other Genin, Kamiko clenched her fist tightly. It was unusual to her, but she felt extremely close to losing her cool with the two before her. In all honesty she knew that neither of them had done, or was in the process of doing, anything wrong. They had zero obligation to tell her what happened in this situation immediately, let alone at all. Still she found herself feeling barely restrained anger with her two teammates. Anger that had little to no origin. Just looking at them made her tremble.

As the young Uzumaki shimmered in her own anger, Sasuke and Sakura silently bickered with each other. "I don't think is right," Sakura said as she gave Sasuke a slightly pleading look. "There is no reason why we shouldn't let Kamiko know what happened right away."

Sasuke frowned. "There is also no reason why we should let her know what happened right away. There's no reason we should let her know what happened at all. Not only that," Sasuke said without looking at the girl, "but you said that Orochimaru guy was gone after you came to right? But Kamiko was back and unharmed though unconscious. We don't know what happened there and she has yet to say anything about it."

"Sasuke," the girl replied with slight disappointment in her voice, "those are two completely separate things. What happened back there is something that she..."

"What happened between her and Orochimaru is something we need to know." The Uchiha sent his teammate a small glare as he interrupted her. "You said so yourself that the area was torn apart all around us. Like a huge battle had occurred, and Kamiko just so happened to be right in the middle of it completely unharmed." With gritted teeth the boy shook his head. "Until she tells us what happened with Orochimaru, we won't tell her what happened with the shinobi from Otokagure."

Sakura wanted to argue a bit more Sasuke. She knew that what he was saying was making no sense, and it was most likely the mark in between his shoulder and neck affecting his judgment, but the girl honestly had no idea what to say to him. Sasuke had never been this unreasonable about anything before. _There's nothing I can do or say to make him change his mind or causing him to get angry with me,_ Sakura thought in defeat as she nodded her head slowly and looked away from the boy. It was doing just that, that Sakura saw a flash of white hair suddenly appear before her face before her body slammed into something solid and went tumbling towards the the ground.

As she fell through the air, Sakura flailed about wildly to gain ahold of anything she might be passing by. Unfortunately for her the solid object she ran into was doing the same and restricting her motion and sight. Unable to tell how close she was to the ground, Sakura began to panic. She was so sure that she would soon be nothing more than a pile of flesh, blood, and broken bones that she freaked out even worse when she was suddenly snatched up by the back of her shirt collar.

Swings her arms with all of her might, the pink haired kunoichi screeched. "Hey! Shut up and stop hitting me already!" Hearing Sasuke's voice, Sakura stopped flailing and blinked. The boy held her bridal style while standing on the top of a boulder.

"Oh," she sighed as a blush covered her face. "Thank you for saving me Sasuke-kun." The girl practically purred out his name as she batted her eyes at him. The boy just turned his eyes upward in response. Sighing at her failed flirtation attempt, Sakura also looked up. Not to far above them was a Genin that they all recognized from his glasses and white hair. "Kabuto?"

The white haired boy looked down at the two Genin below him with a small smile. "Hello there," he said as he gave a small wave. Kabuto was pinned down to the tree via well placed kunai that stuck his clothing to it. The main thing keeping the boy from moving though was the body of one Uzumaki girl pressed against him. "Could you tell your friend to let me go, and possibly stop glaring at me? This isn't a very comfortable position for me to be in nor one a young lady like herself should be putting herself in." The girl had both of her knees firmly planted on each side of Kabuto as one of her hands wrapped around his neck loosely with the other pointing a kunai at his side.

Setting Sakura down, Sasuke frowned at the two above him. "Kamiko that's enough. You don't need to free him, but we need to finish this test. Just leave him to be found by his team."

Kamiko's glare intensified as she put her face so close to Kabuto's that their noses were nearly touching. A sharp and uneasy pain was pushing its way around her gut. _He smells wrong. A bit like a snake, but not enough to be working with him. At least I don't think so. Damn it who is this guy._ Sasuke called Kamiko's name once again, with a more authority behind. Growling she pushed away from the pinned boy and dropped next next to her teammates. "Let's get this over with already."

As the three quickly left Kabuto trapped to the tree, a satisfied smile slipped on to his face. With little to no problem he ripped himself away from the tree and healed the small wounds he received from the kunai. The original plan of him joining the team to gauge Sasuke's abilities more and ensure his teams advancement was quickly discarded of upon Orochimaru's return. Sasuke had fought even back harder than the Snake Sannin had originally anticipated. No further assessing of the boy's ability was currently needed. Though Kabuto was surprised to hear about the mystery girl who he had no information on. She was apparently strong enough to guarantee the teams passing all on her own in Orochimaru's eyes.

_The fact that Orochimaru-sama recognized you in such a way even as small as that is impressive. I had to see just how big of a fire you might be._ Adjusting his glasses, Kabuto turned to find his teammates silently waiting on him. "Orochimaru-sama may have Sasuke and all of Konaha to play with, but maybe you'll entertain me even more... Uzumaki Kamiko. Let's see what we can burn."

* * *

Arriving at the tower, Kamiko quickly strode up to the door before turning around to face her teammates. Her intimidating form blocking the entrance as she glared at them. Sakura shifted uncomfortably under Kamiko's gaze, while Sasuke only returned her glare. "What are you doing Kamiko? We need to get in there."

"That's strange," Kamiko replied as she crossed her arms. "I thought we only had one scroll on us right now, and I could've sworn we needed two to finish the exam. So why do we need to get in there when it would be pointless to do so and what happened back there? I was promised answers and I want them now."

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Sasuke tossed the Heaven and Earth scroll at the upset girl who quickly caught them. "We obtained the other scroll. That's what happened back there, so get over it and let's finish this already." Sakura hesitantly nodded her head in agreement.

_They seem legit..._ Kamiko thought as she inspected the scrolls cooly. While the more she looked at them, the more they convinced her that they just might have gotten the scrolls without much else having to happen. Unfortunately it didn't convince her fully. Placing them on the ground next to her, she squinted at them. "Who did you fight to get that scroll?"

"What?" Sakura said slightly thrown off by the question. "What does it even matter? We fought someone and obtained the other scroll. Isn't that enough." Sakura truly wanted to tell the other girlr, but was still too weak willed and heads over heels for Sasuke to oppose he way of seeing things.

"Oh it matters Sakura. It matters a lot who you fought." The red haired girl fixed Sakura with a stony gaze. "Call it a woman's intuition, something you'll get when you get a little less stupid, but it's quite obvious that something happened between you guys and the people you fought. Not to mention the fact that Shikamaru's team and that other Konoha team was there. It had to have been a major event for someone, and and I got a good feeling of who that is."

Sasuke grunted as he began trudging towards Kamiko. "Stop messing around idiot. We can argue this after we finish the exam. Now move out of my way or else..." As he got closer to the girl she refused to move out of the way.

Looking down on the boy with rage filled eyes, Kamiko trembled slightly. "Or else what? What are you going to do Mister Badass? Force your way pass me? I would so love to see you try teme."

Sasuke heard the challenge in her voice and clenched his fist. He remembered how she had forced him to back down in front of a large group of Genin in the First Exam. That was something that he would never forget, nor forgive, the red haired girl before him for. Exhaling angrily out of his nose, the boy slowed his steps but continued a directly for Kamiko. "You think I'll fall for the scare tactic twice? Heh. You're an even bigger idiot than I originally thought you were then." _It was no nothing more than a bluff in the Exam room that I failed to call, but not this time. An Uchiha bows out to no one!_ Continuing to march on, Sasuke marched right up to the girl until he was standing right next to her. Waiting to see if the girl would even attempt to stop him.

Looking at the raven haired boy out of the corner of her eye, the red head did her best to calm herself. The inexplicable rage she had been feeling since waking violently swirled about inside her and threatened to pour out as each second past. Something she knew she couldn't let happen. Though it pained her to have to do so, Kamiko inhaled and exhaled heavily as she picked up both the scrolls and walked away from Sasuke without another word. She didn't even need to look back to know that he had that smug victorious look on his face. Though she did catch sight of Sakura releasing a sigh of relief as she turned away from the two which only filled her with more anger. _Any other day Kamiko, but not today. Just. Not. Today._

Having moved past the usually inevitable confrontation between Kamiko and Sasuke, the members of Team Seven strolled into the tower silently. They immediately found themselves within a much larger than normal room with almost nothing inside it. The only item in the room was a large plaque on the wall. Written on to the plaque were instructions that Sakura quietly read aloud.

"If qualities of heaven are your desire, acquire wisdom to take your mind higher. If earthly qualities is what you lack, train your body and prepare to attack. When heaven and earth are opened together, the perilous path will be open forever. This something is the secret way, that guides us from this place today." The young girl looked at her teammates with a small amount of uncertainty. "Its a riddle. Not a very hard one, bit a riddle nonetheless."

Sasuke grunted as he crossed his arms and looked around the empty room. "So this is where we open the scrolls then." Sakura nodded in agreement with her crush who cut a glare in his other teammates direction. "Kamiko."

"Yes my lady," the red head replied coolly as she unraveled both the Heaven scroll and Earth scroll simultaneously on to the ground. As the scrolls rolled out, the three Genin step away from them wearily. Soon after they were fully unraveled a large plum of smoke spewed from the center of the scrolls. A soft think was heard soon after.

Ready for anything to happen, Sasuke and Sakura dropped down into defensive positions. Kamiko on the other hand just smiled softly as she gazed into the smoke as it slowly cleared away. "That's a really flashy entrance you got going on there don't you think."

A chuckle was heard from inside the smoke. "Well leave it up to you to recognize me so quickly Kamiko-chan," a far too familiar voice said cheerfully as Sasuke's and Sakura's eyes widened slightly. As the smoke finally cleared the form of their academy teacher Iruka stood before them with a large grin on his face. "Long time no see you three."

"Iruka-sensei?" Sakura said in confusion as she relaxed only slightly. Still weary of anything you may occur. "What are you doing here? What's going on?"

Iruka just chuckled as he took in the appearance of the three Genin standing before him. "Looks like you guys had a little bit of trouble. Some not as much as others," he said while chuckling. "As to what is going on Sakura-chan, when a team reaches the end of the Second Exam, it is setup so that we Chūnin meet the exam takers. I was allowed to be the one to greet you three."

"What do you mean by greet us?" Sasuke asked.

Iruka cleared his throat before smiling widely at them. "The Second Exam. The three of you have passed it as of now. Congratulations!" Slowly a sense of relief filled the room as Sasuke and Sakura let all of their remaining energy seep out of them. Kamiko just sighed as she stuffed her hands in her pockets. "To celebrate your successful completion of the Second Exam I'd like to buy you all a round of ramen but..."

Launching herself at her old mentor, Kamiko wrapped her arms around the man's waist with a large grin plastered on to her face. "Really?! Really really really?! That'll be so freaking awesome Iruka-sensei! I didn't think you'd ever treat me put to ramen again after last time, but that's in the past now! Already know what I want to get! Yes! Yes! Yes! Ramen!"

Iruka chuckled at the young girl's antics while her teammates were taken aback by them. "Now come on Kamiko-chan, that's enough," the older man said as he separated himself from the girl and placed a hand on her head. "As I was saying I would like to treat you all out to ramen, but that unfortunately will not be possible."

Kamiko adopted a blank look on her face as she quickly calmed down and schooled her expressions. "Oh... Well I knew that. I just... needed to let out my love a ramen that I had been holding in for some time. Yes. That is all."

"Right," the Chūnin said as he retracted his hand slowly. "Anyways I am also here to explain the meaning of the message before you all. The motto for the Chūnin of the village that was written by Hokage-sama himself."

"The motto for the Chūnin?" Sakura asked.

Iruka nodded as he crossed his arms and turned to the message. "Yeah. The 'Heaven' in this paragraph refers to the human mind, and the 'Earth' refers to the human body." Turning his head back to the Genin he smirked. "'If you seek Heaven, seek wisdom, be prepared.' Basically if you are lacking information, gain knowledge and prepare for your mission. 'If you lack Earth, run in the fields, seek advantages.' If you lack physical stamina then train your body until it is strong. And if you contain both Heaven and Earth then you can succeed in even the most dangerous missions, so eventually all missions shall become safe and easy."

Kamiko and Sasuke nodded in understanding as Sakura tilted her head slightly. "Then the part with the missing word? What is that all about Sensei?"

Leaning down, the man picked up one of the unfurled scrolls and held it out. "So the words that represent a Chūnin. The 'person' word from the scrolls goes there. The last sentence is 'these rules will guide a person's extremes.'" Iruka suddenly became serious as he rolled up the scroll and looked to each Genin's eyes. "The 5 days of survival were to test the exam takers basic abilities needed to become a Chūnin, and you guys successfully passed this. Chūnins are at the rank of military captain, you have the responsibility of guiding team. The knowledge, stamina, and inner wisdom all are needed for your duties. I want you guys to challenge the next exam with the Chūnin motto in mind. Relaxing his demeanor Iruka smiled softly. "That is all I have to pass on to you all. Now you can get some well deserved rest."

"Hai Sensei," the three Genin said in unison as they smiled victoriously.

...

...

...

Kabuto stood silently in the tree covering as he watched Kamiko confront her teammates in front of the tower's entrance. He was quite disappointed in the lack of true confrontation between the young Uzumaki and her Uchiha teammate. The young man was hoping to actually see the girl in action first hand. He found her to be much more intriguing than the young Uchiha heir. _Sooner or later I will see exactly what you are capable of, and then you will be put to the test._

"You seem to have found something to spark your own interest Kabuto-kun," a voice hissed from behind him.

"I would love to look into everything that is that young Uzumaki-chan is capable of," Kabuto said with a smile. "She seems like an interesting subject."

The voice chuckled as it slowly began to fade. "You can look into her all you want to Kabuto-kun, so long as your cover isn't blown. The plan is much more important than the village's resident jinchuriki."

"...Hai, Orochimaru-sama."

* * *

**A/N: Well there's your chapter. The dream was edited from what it originally was since it was alot worse in the beginning. That's kinda where the '...' come in as paragraphs being deemed having gone too far and being removed but still holding sway on what happened in it. This chapter literally sat half done for awhile before I finally finished it. Along with the dream being edited, I took out a scene where Kamiko snaps at the tower entrance and beats Sasuke half way into the ground before Kakashi arrives to save him. They would both end up in the hospital with the dynamics of the team be even more severely screwed than ever before. Sasuke suffering physically, and Kamiko mentally and spiritually from the lost of Akane and the build of rage (that will still play a part.) Decided that that also was unneeded and took it out. Let me know how you felt about this chapter and hopefully I won't be absent for so long again... but I never know. :(**

**Until next time...**


	7. Chpt VII: Relax

**A/N: This took way to long to freaking write...**

**Disclaimer: No own manga or anime**

* * *

Kamiko covered her mouth as she let out a long silent yawn and stretched out. She groaned as she looked about her surroundings groggily aware. The young girl had been woken up quite suddenly by her Jōnin sensei not even a full half hour ago. Kakashi, shaking her awake, pronounced that it was time for all the teams that had past the Second Exam to meet in center of the tower's bottom floor to hear from the Hokage.

Frowning both at being awoken from her deep sleep and the intrusion into her quarters by her sensei, Kamiko dressed and came to the tower's center along side Sakura and Sasuke. She now stood in line with her teammates alongside other teams that had made it through the Second Exam. To their right was Shikamaru's team who had arrived a day or so after theirs, and while slightly banged up didn't seem to be too bad off. Choji and Shikamaru had small scratches on their skin and clothes while Ino looked like she had fun in a giant dirt pile. However they were fine as far as anyone could tell. On their left was Team Eight. They had arrived not too long before Kamiko and the others and seemed practically unscathed.

_No surprise that the Lazy Pineapple and his team made it. Even if its too much of a drag for that guy, there's no way he'd fail something like this with those two on his side. On the other hand I'm a little surprised to see that Kiba, Shino, and Hinata made it. Didn't expect them to outright fail, but I honestly thought Hinata would hold them back. Must be quite an interesting thing for all three of our teams to make it here._

Taking notice of those past the other two rookie Genin squads, Kamiko was quite pleased with the competition. The Genin team from Taki with the mint green haired girl was on it was present. While her teammates seemed a little worse for wear, the girl herself was completely uninjured. The Sound team that had left little to no impression on her had made it. Their assumed leader seemed well enough while the female seemed exhausted, and the other male had both of his arms hooked into slings.

The Suna team with the deranged Ichibi jinchuriki contained in it had also made it. They apparently we're so good they cleared the entire Second Exam on the first day without a single injury of any kind to any of them. They were obviously not a team to be taken lightly. Next to them was a team from Kusa that while barely standing, seemed to be trying to put on brave faces even though even they could tell that they were most likely the weakest team that made it.

The final team left was unfortunately, in Kamiko's eyes, Team Guy. After thinking his personality over, the young girl had decided the green spandex clad boy, who was even now overly energetic as he could not sit still between his teammates doing one fingered push ups, was not such a bad person. He was damn sure annoying though and needed in only small doses. The Hyuga in front of him was a poster boy for the clan as far as she could tell, and Kamiko had never met a likable Hyuga besides Hinata and her younger Hinabi somewhat. Finally there was the girl Tenten who even now was glaring at Kamiko. That team as a whole was going to be nothing but an annoyance to the young Uzumaki. Then again, this was something she had already known before they were a team.

Sighing, she closed her eyes and reached into her mind again for what had to be the hundredth time since reaching the tower. Entering her mindscape was as easy as usual, but like every time before she appeared before an enormous murky black barrier. It cut her off from the lush greenery that was within her mind having erected itself right at the very edge of it all. Guilt swelled up in the girl as she looked at the barrier with a saddened expression. _She must hate me. If only I had listened to her things wouldn't be this way. Akane shouldn't be trapped behind this damn barrier because I couldn't fight past my own anger._ Leaving her mind while opening her eyes, the girl's fist clenched. _I had no right for what I said either. What good did yelling do? There was no reason to argue at all. Especially not with how disrespectful I was being._

Another sigh drew the the attention of a pair lazy eyes the girl easily just waved off. Shikamaru's worry was not needed at the time, and all the instructors and team leaders, along with the Hokage, were starting to file into the room. Scanning them made Kamiko tense up when she took in the sight of a bandaged Anko next to the Hokage. Their eyes quickly met and Anko's seemed to relax from its sinister grin just long enough to give Kamiko a look to let her know they would talk later. Knowing now was not the time, the red head nodded and tried to relax as the Hokage started talking.

Stepping forward, the aged Kage's eyes swept the room. "First and foremost, congratulations on successfully passing the Second Exam." A smile adorning his face as he observed all three rookie teams lined up as the eight teams shifted about restlessly while glancing at each other. Looking back at their senseis he hmmed. "No wonder they nominated them..."

Anko stepped forward with her usual mean look on her face. "The Hokage-sama will now explain the Third Exam. Listen carefully to what he says." She stepped back as she said, "Hokage-sama if you would please."

"Mm, for the upcoming Third Exam... No before that I would like you all to know something the true reason behind these exams we hold. Why do we have all the allied countries taking the exams together? 'To promote friendship between villages.' 'To raise the level of future shinobi.'" The Hokage shook his head. "No it is a replacement for war among the allied countries." His words caused shock to appear on the faces of many of the Genin listening to him. "If you read the history books or listen to old stories, the countries were not always allied together. There was a time when they were enemies fighting for supremacy and rule over the land. Sometimes a war would start just because one village refused something from another. In order to avoid wasteful fighting amongst themselves the Chūnin Selection Exam came into existence. That is its origin. True it also helps decide which Genin may be prepared for promotion to Chūnin rank, but on the other hand you Genin are risking your lives in these exams for your lands prestige."

Catching a quizzical look from a few of the Genin before him the Hokage continued explaining. "Influential leaders from many countries that hire us shinobi will be attending the Third Exam to watch the villages' upcoming talent. Leaders of our own countries will also be attending the exam. How a village's Genin perform in the exams can cause a rise or fall in clients. Not only that but other villages will use this as a way peek at how strong we may or may not be. The exam is a place to see each others and show off our own strength. This is a life risking battle with both you countries prestige and your dreams on the line. It is a mission you accepted the moment you signed your names on those papers and came to the First Exam room."

The teams quietly talked over what they had just been told. _So this was pretty much what I thought it was_, Kamiko thought as she looked up at her grandfather figure. _I wonder just how long this will last before it dissolves into complete chaos someday. It just sounds like something a future group would tear into to._

Sakura frowned as she turned back to face her two teammates. "I never thought that the exam represented so much," she whispered. "It sounds like something that someone who is already a Chūnin would go through for their village. Not something newly minted Genin like us would do."

Sasuke crossed his arms. "Doesn't sound like an issue to me. If they want us to fight a mock war for them then that's what we'll do. As long as it makes me stronger that's all that matters to me. Its not like I could fail at anything in these exams."

"Pfft. You two are so freaking short sighted its not even fucking funny," Kamiko sighed. "You guys probably didn't get a damn thing from what Jiji-sama just said."

"You... You shouldn't talk about the Hokage that way Kamiko. Its really disrespectful." Sakura looked at the ground to avoid Kamiko's judging eyes.

"Maybe from you it is but from me it's just fine."

"No one cares Kamiko. The one who's short sighted is you. You may think that only you can see the big picture, but what you see is only a stroke of paint on what I see." Sasuke glared at Kamiko and smiled. "How about you just be quiet and listen like a good little painter girl."

Kamiko just adopted a blank look as she looked back towards the Hokage. _I will rip his tongue out. I will rip his dick off. I will switch them. I will do it slowly._

"Now," the Third said with a commanding voice to regain their attention, "that I have explained the meaning behind what the exams are I will explain the Third Exam. Now originally when seven teams had successfully entered the tower the plans were to change a little bit. We had planned to set the remaining 21 Genin into one on one preliminary matches to compete for the right to continue on to the Third Exam."

"What!?" Kiba said as he took a step forward. "What's this about preliminary matches? Didn't we pass the Second Exam? There shouldn't be more before the Third Exam."

"Don't be such a troublesome person Kiba," Shikamaru said as he scratches the back of his head. "The Hokage didn't say that we're participating in any preliminary matches. He just said that that was the original plan. Apparently that is no longer the case."

"That is quite right young man. The original plan was to cut the remaining number of contenders in half to fit the ideal Third Exam this year, but thanks to the last minute arrival of the team from Kusagakure a new idea was made." Waving Ibiki, who stood to the Hokage's right, forward with a box and clipboard in hand the aged man smiled. "Now if the foremost person in each team would come grab a piece of paper out of the box in Ibiki's band, I can fully explain."

Not wanting to waste much time, those standing at the front of their teams quickly strode over to the First Exam instructor. Hands dove in to come out with numbered slips of paper. Though questions filled their minds the Genin rejoined their teammates and passed the slip of paper amongst themselves quietly.

Once everyone was set back in place, Ibiki set down the box and brought up his clip board. "When I point to your team I would like for to sound off with the number on the papers you just drew and the names of your teammates. Speak clearly so repeating is unnecessary." The Genin nodded in understanding as the slips of paper were past to the front person. "Good. Now let's begin."

"Number 2. Fū, Nu Kenchi, and Sumeragi Suzaku."

"Number 6. Kinuta Dosu, Abumi Zaku, and Tsuchi Kin."

"Number 7. Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji, and Yamanaka Ino."

"Number 3. Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Kamiko."

"Number 8. Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Hyuga Hinata."

"Number 5. Sabaku no Teamri, Sabaku no Kankuro, and Sabaku no Gaara."

"Number 1. Usagi Baza, Moto Jinko, and Karin."

"Number 4. The Youthful Rock Lee, Hyuga Neji, and Higurashi Tenten."

As soon as the names were finished being called and jotted down, Ibiki turned to the Hokage and nodded. "Good, now show them the match arrangements Ibiki-san." Nodding again the man flipped his clipboard around towards the Genin. Many of them went wide eyed while a few smirked devilishly as they looked over the paper on the board.

"Its a tournament," Shikamaru frowned. "The final exam is a tournament."

"Yes that is correct. For the final exam you eight teams will be competing in a tournament. This was originally planned for one on one matches with the possibility of a three man battle. To keep things interesting yet short we would have needed to cut down on the number of participants through a preliminary round. Of course plans changed when the team from Kusagakure made its last minute arrival," the Hokage said as he smiled and said Kusa team began to fidget slightly. "The tournament could still be kept interesting and short if we changed the format of the matches."

"So instead of one on one matches you decided to make them three on three," Kamiko yawned still somewhat tired. "One team versus another to win the prize."

Shikamaru raised a hand slightly as he began to speak. "If all of this is so then there can be only be one victorious team. Does that mean only three people, one team, can become Chūnin?"

"No," the Third stated. "While the tournament may allow only one victor there will be judges watching all of the matches. The Kazekage, lords of various countries who make mission request, other ninja leaders, and myself. Each team and individual person will have their abilities judged by us to weed out those who are and are not suited to receive the rank of Chūnin. So even someone from a team that was beaten in the first round can be promoted."

A girl with blond windmill style hair looked up at the aged man. "Then it is possible that everyone could end up promoted to the rank of Chūnin am I right?"

"That's correct, but also true is the fact that no one could be promoted. Winning your matches will allow for more chances to appeal for your promotion. Other than that there is nothing gained from winning your matches." A few Genin sighed in relief that the future of their career didn't depend on victory but their actually skill. "This tournament will take place in one month to give each of you time to train and recover from the Second Exam. It will also be the time that various guest will be filing into the village. Shinobi, nobles, and civilians alike will soon start amassing here to watch you and enjoy the village. Do keep that in mind. With that you are all dismissed."

* * *

"What happened to you?!" Kamiko asked as she and Anko sat in the back of a fully packed dango shop. After being dismissed by the Hokage, the Jōnin senseis of the three rookie teams, minus Kakashi who left with Sasuke immediately after telling his charges to meet at the training grounds tomorrow afternoon, took it upon themselves to treat the Genin to a celebratory dinner at an all you can eat yakiniku restaurant that was having a live performance that night. Kindly declining the offer off free food and leaving Sakura as the only member of Team Seven to go, Kamiko quickly left to find her sister figure. Knowing exactly where she would be at a time like this it didn't take long.

"Oh nothing," Anko said as she quickly downed a cup of sake. "Just a light run in with a beam from hell and my past." Kamiko squinted at her sister in confusion as she slightly tilted her head. "Orochimaru. I had a run in with a Orochimaru in the forest. I don't know why or how he was in the village, let alone in the forest, but I couldn't just let him go about his own business like it wasn't obvious that he was up to something fucking shady." The Snake Mistress growled as she leaned back and looked at her bandaged right arm. "I was completely out of my league with no chance of winning from the very beginning. Damn stray attack that hit me right before we fought didn't help me either."

Kamiko clenched her fist under the table as she tried to subdue her internal rage. _If only I could have been able to stop him..._ Reasoning that she too had been severely out classed by the rogue Sannin, the young girl tried to think of something else. "Yeah... Well... What was it? The attack that hit you before you two fought I mean."

"Huh? Oh... Yeah that. Um, don't worry about it. Its not important so it doesn't matter." Anko paused for a second as she tried to quickly steer the conversation onto something safe. "Let's not talk about it anymore. How about we celebrate your passing on to the Third Exam with hell amount sake and whatever the hell we find to eat on me. Starting with dango obviously."

"Hm." Tilting back in her chair as if pondering her options, Kamiko closed her eyes. "I don't know. Might be thinking of calling it a night and heading back home to get in some good ole R&amp;R while I still have the chance to ya know." Slightly peeking through her eyelids, the young girl looked at Anko as she sat there just staring at her like she had just spoken a foreign language. "Of course that's what I would probably say," Kamiko smirked as she fully opened her eyes, "if I was some kind of fruit loop. Free food and sake to boot? Last time I got both of those I was 6 and Jiji was away on work and I'm actually legal this time! You know you can count me me in!"

Bursting into a fit a laughter that earned them many dark looks, Anko and Kamiko high-fived each other as they filled their cups. "You actually had me going there for a second Miko-chan, and that night is our secret remember. We have to go all out tonight. A few of my friends are gonna join us. Well, we're gonna make em, but it all works. This is gonna be the best night of your life." Raising their glasses happily together, the two girls smiled brightly. "To success, triumph, gain, fortune, booze, and... and... and boobs! Always be thankful for booze and boobs! They greatest combo!"

Kamiko nearly dropped her cup as she couldn't hold back from doubling over and laughing even harder than before. "I'd like to think that we are a better combo than booze and boobs, but then again who would argue against those." Tossing their heads back, both girls went to down their cups in one go and finish before the other. Unfortunately for Kamiko though her hand was grabbed just before she could tip the cup far enough back to even get a taste before Anko slammed her cup back done with an elated sigh.

Quickly, but gently, a member of the ANBU Black Ops removed the drink from Kamiko's hand and stood the girl up. The person was slightly taller than Anko with long purple hair falling down their back. The ANBU was obviously a women if her chest was of any indication with the tight fitting form of the ANBU attire along with the slight scent of perfume. The hilt of a sword showed over the person's shoulder and she wore a cat mask to cover her face. "Excuse me," the women said as Kamiko glared at her, "but Hokage-sama would like you in his presence immediately. I apologize if I've interrupted your festivities, but we have no time to waste."

Fighting back the urge to growl at the women and tell her off, Kamiko sighed and turned to Anko with a sad smile. "Sorry, guess this'll have to wait until tomorrow. Maybe this time we can start off somewhere nice and fancy... or all you can eat right off the back." Anko gave the girl a thumbs up as she received the order of dango she got before Kamiko arrived. Frowning back at the women, the young women placed a hand on her hip. "I'm ready whenever you are lady."

"Good, and Anko," the women said as she placed a hand on Kamiko's shoulder. "I think me and you will need to have a talk about you giving civilian minors alcohol later on. You know, the fun kind of chat we always have about these things." With that said, Kamiko and the ANBU member disappeared in a swirl of smoke leaving behind a wide eyed Anko who was silently cursing her luck.

In an instant Kamiko found herself outside the Hokage's office in the reception area. A circular room with pale white walls, and a few potted plants in what would be considered the four corners of the room. It was a windowless room with two doors to the front and back. Pictures of the previous Kages and their wives if they had one adorned the wall along with two large tapestries depicting the symbols of peace and fire. In the middle of it all was a big wooden desk that the Hokage's attendant sat behind.

The current attendant was a woman was in her late twenties. She was an average sized woman with short brown hair and large hazel eyes. The Hokage's attendant is usually a civilian person due to the dangers a shinobi must face in their career. The previous attendant was a Chūnin level kunoichi early off in her career who was very much kind to Kamiko before the girl was forced to pick up her persona as Uzumaki Naruto. The young woman was sent on what should have been a standard C-Rank delivery mission with a Genin team who's Jōnin instructor was away on a two man A-Rank mission at the time. Unfortunately that C-Rank mission quickly turned into a S-Rank mission that was too much for a single Chunin and three Genin to handle without any backup. The young women did everything in her power to ensure the return of the young shinobi in her charge at the cost of her life. The current attendant was the younger sister of one of the two Genin who returned from the disastrous mission and survived their injuries from their escape. Having been told stories about the woman who had saved her older brother's life, the young girl worked hard to become the Hokage's new attendant.

The female Anbu operative drew the attendant's attention as she stood in front of her desk. "Yes may I be of help to you Cat-san?" the women asked with a cheerful smile as she sorted a pile of forms into three stacks.

The woman gave the attendant a small bow as she began to talk. "I am here with the person that Hokage-sama has requested the immediate presence of." The Anbu operative indicated a scowling Kamiko with a slight movement of her hand. "Until this meeting is over and the Third has dismissed young Uzumaki-san here there is to be no one that enters the Hokage's office unless it is of extreme importance. I hope you can understand that Miss Kimone." Giving a slight nod to the women before her, the attendant looked at Kamiko with a small amount of worry and confusion in her eyes. "Good, then Uzumaki-san."

Huffing, Kamiko fell in behind the women as she led her into the Hokage's office quietly. Immediately upon entering the room Kamiko knew that she had not been called before her grandfather figure for any frivolous reason as the unhappy look on his face spoke volumes. The blinds on the large window beside the Third that were usually open were now completely drawn closed making the room darker than normal and unfamiliar to the young girl. Completely unsure as to what she had done and not wanting to make her situation anymore worse than what it may already be, the girl quickly strode to the middle of the room and knelt down before the Hokage. One fist was firmly planted into the ground as one arm sat on her raised knee with her head bowed low and eyes closed. All grand-daughterly and grandfatherly feeling between the two were currently nowhere to be found. "You requested my presence before you Hokage-sama?" she said in a strictly professional voice void of any defiance she may have initially intended show in a playful way.

The Hokage stood from his chair as he activated the silencing seals that covered the room, and walked around his desk. "I am going to be very blunt with you and get straight to the point Kamiko. Are the civilians of the Leaf Village safe in their own village or do they have cause for fear?" The question startled Kamiko into looking up into the man's stern face with wide eyes. "I believed that they were as safe in their own village as they possibly could be until just a few days ago. Now I as the Hokage of this village must think that that safety I believed in is being threatened by what I previously thought to be something completely harmless." As Kamiko bit down on her lower lip, she averted her gaze away from the man's steely gaze. "Genin Uzumaki Kamiko you will look your leader in the eyes when he is speaking to you do you understand?!" the Third said sternly as he began unconsciously releasing his extremely potent ki.

The girl hesitantly looked back up at the Hokage as she clenched her fist in an attempt to keep herself from shaking. "I... I understand Hokage-sama. I apologies for any disrespect that I just showed you." _Oh Kami save me I must have fucked up big time. I don't even understand what any of this is about. Village safety? I haven't done anything to threaten that have I?_ "May you tell me what this is about sir? I don't understand what I have to do about the safety of the villagers being internally threatened."

Sighing, the Hokage clasped his hand behind his back as he he walked back to his chair. "Come. Look into my crystal ball and I will show you what I am talking about Kamiko." Standing up, Kamiko walked in front of the Third's desk and leaned in to look at the crystal ball as the man began adding his chakra into it for his telescope technique to take affect. By using a small amount of chakra he was able to bring up the scene of an event he had past observed through the ball. It was momentarily a fuzzy picture until it final stabilized itself and showed an aerial side view of the Forest of Death. For a moment Kamiko was still confused as to what was going on before it finally hit her. She leaned away from the crystal ball slowly just as bright flashes of red began to appear randomly in the forest. The picture began to rise and pull up as the bright red flashes continued to go off and a few trees began to come down. The bright flashes stopped momentarily before one single red light began to grow. Unlike the bright flashes before it was a darkened red that encased the entire area as trees shook all around. Finally Kamiko watched as an attack made of pure fiery chakra tore through the forest and mowed down everything in its way. She watched as the attack stopped just before and melt the gate around the Forest of Death. As the attack lost all of its energy and dispersed the view changed to a complete aerial view of Training Ground 44 to show a large scar having been curved into the forest.

As the picture faded away, the Third looked up at Kamiko and was slightly surprised to find the girl red in the face with an awkward smile while slightly shaking. "You aren't seriously calling me a threat to the villagers are you? I mean, that's just crazy talk right?" The Hokage's face set into a grim look as he pressed his lips together tightly. The young Uzumaki's eyes widened momentarily before she slammed her hands down onto the desk as her anger flared quickly and suddenly. "What kind of bullshit is that?! I'm no threat to this village and you damn well know that!"

The Hokage slowly stood as he raised his hand to stop his Anbu from forcibly restraining the girl before him. "Young lady I don't know what just overcame you, but you best remember who it is you are in the presence of. What happened in the Forest of Death was felt practically all over the entire village. You were unable to see it due to taking the exam, but many areas in the village flew into a panic. Shinobi armed themselves for battle and citizens began taking their children and going into hiding to protect themselves. They all feared that the worst had occurred. This doesn't even include the irreparable damage you caused in the forest yourself."

Throwing up her hands, Kamiko growled as she backed away from the desk. "Ok what?! Irreparable damage to the forest? Um, I do believe all of that can just grow itself back. Natural circle of plant life and what not. Even though that forest is anything but natural."

"You weren't listening Kamiko," the Third said while shaking his head making the girl glare at him. "I didn't say you caused irreparable damage to the forest. I said that you had caused irreparable damage in the forest." Placing her hands on her hips Kamiko raised an eyebrow showing that she didn't exactly follow what he was saying to her. "Kamiko do you honestly think that there wasn't anyone in the direction of that attack. There were Genin that got caught in that blast you are single handedly responsible for the failure of eight teams. That's 24 four Genin that you either killed or heavily injured Kamiko. Injured to the point that their careers as shinobi have ended. Five of those teams were from the Leaf Village itself and..."

"I don't see your point," Kamiko said coolly to the complete surprise of the Third Hokage. "I'm still not seeing irreparable damage in or to the forest. I mean you said so yourself earlier on in the tower. The Chūnin Selection Exam's while serving the purpose of presenting Genin candidates to become Chūnin, it also serves the purpose of taking the place of war. People get killed in war. Its an unavoidable fact that it occurs. Just like it was unavoidable that there would be deaths in the forest whether that happened or not. I know for a fact that I'm not possibly the only one with blood on my hands after the Second Exam." The girl shrugged as she crossed her arms. "So yeah, I'm still not seeing where I classify as a threat since what I did was completely necessary. I was fighting Orochimaru of the Sannin, so I did whatever I could."

For a moment the Hokage was silent as he thought over the information he just gained. He hadn't originally known that the young girl had encountered his old student in battle. While that did factor in, Kamiko was still not seeing what the old man was getting at. "Kamiko, while true, your answer slightly troubles me. At the moment though that is not the issue. That attack was composed of nothing but demonic chakra. It doesn't take much from an experienced shinobi, like me and the entire Shinobi Council, to figure that out. With how big it was that is quite concerning to us. We need to know the Kyūbi's..."

"Akane," Kamiko said as she hardened a glare at the aged leader. "I've told you many times before that her name is Akane. You want to know if her seal is breaking right. Well its not. That's just how much of her chakra that I have control over... Well not control over but access to which is good enough for me." Lifting her shirt, the girl revealed her stomach with its seal on it. "The only thing different is this stupid overlapping seal that the damn Snake left on me... Don't leer at me so hard..."

"I'm not leering young lady just studying the seal," the Hokage said.

"Yeah... leering," the girl replied.

The Hokage dropped his head and sighed. "When did you stop being such a sweet little girl?"

"When you let... that man be my doctor for so many years." Silence struck the room as the Third suddenly whipped his head up. He looked into deep blue hollow eyes that stared back at him. The man didn't expect such a reply and was left speechless for the first time in many years. "The village is safe from me. Am I needed anymore Hokage-sama?"

Closing his eyes, the Third wished he could take back his words as he shook his head. "No. You no longer need to be here. Though I would like you to pay a visit to Yukai and Yuji the first chance you get. Just as a precaution if you will. Other than that you are dismissed." Bowing deeply Kamiko turned and left the office as the Third watched after her with a saddened expression. He will always regret letting that man be in charge of the young girl. _I am sorry I was unable to protect you when I should have been there for you Kamiko... I guess it is time to call upon Jiriaya. That seal needs inspecting._

* * *

Standing in the middle of Training Ground 7 with her Seversword drawn, Kamiko was surrounded by hundreds upon hundreds of her clones. Once again she was filled with guilt with how she had talked to yet another person who had played a major part in her life, but that guilt was easily overcome by the rage of that same person accusing her of being a threat to the safety of the foolish villagers she was tasked to protect. Having let it all build up in the office the girl was in need of a release before exploded and truly became a safety issue in the village. _Hm, I'm killing a large number of myself in an attempt to get rid of my own rage. Somewhere, somehow, this counts as mass suicide._ "Alright, let's begin you worthless clones!"

* * *

Kamiko rubbed her cheek as she walked around one of Konoha's many food markets, that was filled to the brim with villagers wandering aimlessly. She had spent most of the night fighting wave after wave of clones that at one point began to momentarily overpower her. A slowly healing bruise on the girl's left cheek was the result of that moment. "Damn clones almost got the better of me there. Next time I won't make so many. Just enough to get a work out. Maybe," she mumbled to herself.

Stomach beginning to growl, Kamiko decided it was time to pay Ichiraku Ramen a visit. She had not tasted the ramen shop's heavenly dishes since before the beginning of the mission to the Land of Waves. Now after having passed the first two test of the Chūnin Selection Exam and being denied a late night celebration with Anko, it seemed like the best idea. Plus the shop wasn't too far from where she was now. Nodding to herself, Kamiko strode purposefully through the throng of people, dodging left and right so as not to run anyone over.

It was while nearing her destination that the young Uzumaki heard a soft voice nearby. _"Oh... Oh no."_ Regularly that wouldn't mean much to Kamiko. There are people all around her so she is bound to hear people, but the voice while being far too quite to be heard amongst the crowd, sounded off loud in clear to her. It was as the the person was right in her ear. _"If only someone could understand me."_

Kamiko looked around in confusion until she was saw a young girl around her age looking around frantically. She seemed to be attempting to catch the attention of anyone who passed her, but was thoroughly ignored by everyone who possibly thought she was trying to sell them things. The girl was slightly shorter than Kamiko herself, who admittedly wasn't very tall for her age. Long light purple hair was held up by two red ribbons giving her small ponytails from either side of the top of her head that fell just past the top of her shoulders. She had a soft slightly rounded face, that complimented her slim figure, that contained two big deep purple eyes. _"Hey! Come on, somebody please pay attention to me."_

Kamiko walked over to the girl as she spun around looking for help. She tapped the other girl on the shoulder as soon as she was within arms reach of her, making said girl turn to face her quickly. _She's kinda cute._ "Hey, are you lost or something? You are looking pretty lost right now."

For a moment the girl just stared at Kamiko before smiling and nodding vigorously. _"Yes! Yes, yes, yes! Finally someone noticed. Now just to let her know I can't find may way home from here."_

"Ya know," Kamiko said as she placed her hands on her hips, "if you can't find your way home you gotta say something to someone. Just trying to silently flag people down won't help you out what so ever. You just look like a sales person in this area."

The girl went wide eyed as she took a step back. Excitement was clear on her face. _"Woah... She knew that I couldn't find my way home instantly. This has to be somebody sent by Kami herself to take me home."_

Listening to the girl, Kamiko couldn't help but feel off. For some reason or another it felt as though there was something that she should be noticing. Watching the girl as she talked about her being sent by Kami, she finally figured it out. "Hey... Open your mouth and say something." The excitement quickly disappeared from the girl's face as she looked down. Biting her lip softly, she grabbed the base of her shirt and tugged on it slightly as she shook her head. "Can you say anything at all?" Again the girl shook her head. _No way. She has to be able to talk. We've practically just had a small conversation about her being lost. There is just no way this girl can be mute... but I haven't seen her mouth open to say anything this entire time._ "Hey can you possibly use some kind of mind reading, mind transmission ability? Something that might put your voice in my head?" A questioning look gave Kamiko all she needed to know.

Kamiko crossed her arms as she chewed on the inside of her cheek thoughtfully. After a moment of thinking, she nodded to herself and placed a hand on the other girl's shoulder. "Okay, so I got that you're lost, have been getting ignored by all the villagers around here, and need help finding your way home. How I know that is that I've heard a voice in my head that pretty much told me so. At first I thought it was you talking to me, but I was hearing this voice over everyone else's when we were a fair distance apart. Add that on with the fact that you apparently can't talk in the first place, the only possibility is that I'm hearing your thoughts. So think really hard about this. Are you sure that there is no possibility that you have any kind of ability that would let that happen that you possibly got from one of your parents?"

The girl shook her head again and pushed her hands out apologetically, yet at the same time her thoughts were running. _"No. There is no way I could tell her that with me being adopted. I've never even met my parents before, and there isn't anything that I have been told about them. It would be really cool if she could hear my thoughts. If only I could talk none of this would be an issue in the first place."_ Tears gathered in her eyes as she placed a hand to her neck gently.

Surprise shown on her face as Kamiko gently brushed away the tears before they could begin to fall with a soft smile on her face. "I don't get it, but somehow I can hear your thoughts and it really is something we can try to figure out someday maybe. For now how about you... uh... think me your name and what part of Konaha you stay in?"

_"Primula! My name is Shigeru Primula! I live in the Odaka District! I was born on October 1st in the year 258, so that would make me 15 years of age now! I was adopted by my current parents at 1! Can you really hear my thoughts? Really?!"_ Eager wonder gleamed on Primula's face as she began shaking.

Kamiko giggled as she tried to hold the shaking girl still. "Yeah, yeah I can hear you 15 year old Shigeru Primula from the Odaka District. Its a little odd to hear a foreign voice in my head, but that's okay." She grabbed one of Yukari's hands and began walking with the girl. "Let's get you back home. We are just a district away from Odaka, so it won't be a long walk."

Nodding, the girl gripped Kamiko's hand tightly with a smile. _"Okay. This is unbelievable. This is so unbelievable. You can actually hear what I'm thinking."_ The young Uzumaki had to fight the urge to laugh as the girl had slight bounce to her step that she spun her body slightly each time. _"I mean, this is the greatest thing ever for somebody like me. This has to some sort of gift from Kami. There is no other way that this could be possible. Hey, how are you so okay with this? Other people would have been freaking out about having someone else's voice appear in their head randomly."_

"Mm, let's just say that something like this won't have much of an affect on someone like me. I'm not like other people, and let's not ask what I mean by that okay." Kamiko winked at Primula as she smiled up at her. "Plus, why question this when it's obviously not a bad thing? You're seeing this as a gift and accept it whole heartedly as such. I have no reason to see it as something different. Doesn't hurt that you are a little on the cute side too."

Primula blushed a little as she looked away. _"Thank you. You're the first person I have ever been able to talk to in my life. Can you tell me about yourself? What's your name? Do you have any siblings? How about pets? How old are you?"_

The young Uzumaki let go of Primula's hand as she itched a spot just behind her ear. "Well my name is Kamiko. Uzumaki Kamiko. I am also 15 years old. Just nine days younger than you if you wanna know. I don't have any siblings that I know of as like you I am an orphan. As for pets... well I have a few potted plants, do they count?"

For a moment Primula stopped walking as she bent over at the stomach and shook with silent laughter. _"No I don't think plants count as pets. I don't think I'd be a very good pet owner if they did."_ Straightening she continued walking by an amused Kamiko. _"So you're an orphan too? How long were you in the orphanage before you were adopted? You look like someone who would get picked up by a really awesome family or something like that."_

"Nope," Kamiko said while shaking her head to the other girl's surprise. "I was never adopted by anyone. I spent five years in an orphanage before being given a place to stay all to myself. I had people who would occasionally come see me to make sure I was okay, and would take me to grocery stores and markets to buy food." Kamiko twirled a lock of red hair as she pointed at a flock of birds that sung to each other as they flew about. "I've never know what it's like to live with anyone else, though if you ask me that's okay. Things could have been a whole lot worse. I substitute not having a family with the people I have bonded with over the years. They're my family."

_"Wow, I can't tell if that's amazing or sad,"_ Primula thought as she looked troubled. Saying that it's nothing that needed to be worried about, Kamiko just waved it off. _"Ok."_ Silence overtook the two girls as they walked side by side through the paths of Konoha. Neither one having anything to say as they continued on towards the Odaka District. Even after they reached the district, Kamiko continued to walk with the slightly older girl.

_I wonder why I can hear her voice,_ Kamiko thought. _We have never met before, so nothing could have happened to have connected us in some way. Neither one of us has the ability to read minds or transmit our thoughts to the other one either. At least, she won't tell me if she does._ She looked over at Primula who was smiling softly as she looked ahead happily and smiled herself. _I'm going to have to ask someone about this eventually. For now though, it doesn't really matter how this came to be._

Soon the two found themselves standing on the front porch of a small blue three story building. Looking at it, Kamiko noticed that it was a clothing store called Shigeru's Clothing and Jewelry, obviously named after the family that may own it. Through the window an assortment of fine clothing and amazing jewelry could be seen on display in the light blue store. Silver necklaces hung on the bodies of manikins while gold bracelets and diamond rings sat in glass cases. Dresses and suits were hung on the walls as heels and shoes were placed on low platforms below them. The center of the store was occupied by a large silver harp that seemed to sparkle in the store light.

"Wow," was all Kamiko said as she looked in. Jewelry and dresses weren't usually her thing, but the place before her had many things she would buy. That was just from looking through the window. There was no telling what she would find if she went inside the shop. _Wonder if I can afford anything here. More stuff must be on the higher floors._

_"Well this is my house,"_ Primula said to the visible shock of Kamiko. _"The first floor is a jewelry and clothing store that is run by my parents. The second floor is where are our kitchen, living and dining room, and bathrooms are. Its kinda like this flower shop I've been to a few times. It just doesn't smell as nice."_

"That's pretty cool Primula. Your parents must make a lot off of the higher class villagers in this district," said Kamiko.

_"Yeah, they make a fair amount. We aren't a wealthy or rich family, bit we most definitely aren't poor by no means. I guess you can say I lucked out in the aspect when being adopted."_ Primula looked at Kamiko and smiled softly. _"I guess I lucked out period just being adopted."_

The young Uzumaki nodded her head as she continued to appraise the store from the outside. Doing her best not to press her face against the glass window. "Yeah, well I should get going now. Ya know, got stuff I need to handle before the sun begins to set."

_"Oh I'm sorry Kamiko!"_ Primula took a step back as she quickly bowed to the Kamiko. _"I didn't mean to hold you up or anything. If I had known that I was wasting your time I would've..."_

"Stop stop. You weren't wasting anyone's time Primula. As a matter a fact you were helping me fill time." Kamiko placed a hand on the other girls shoulder as gave her a large smile and a thumbs up. "There's nothing that you need to worry about in that regard."

Primula slightly blushed as she smiled back. _"Okay. Thank you for bringing me home. Having someone to actually hold a conversation with around me was really awesome. Hopefully we'll meet again?"_ Clear hope shone in the girl's eyes.

Smiling, Kamiko gave Primula a soft hug that the girl eagerly returned. The Uzumaki inhaled deeply as they held each other. _Strawberries and vanilla. What a wonderful smell. Gotta remember it._ "Don't worry about that either. We're friends after all. Friend always see each other again." Letting go of the shorter girl, Kamiko winked at her before quickly taking to the roofs of the village. Lunch was the last thing on her mind.

* * *

Leaning against a tree in Training Ground Seven, Kamiko sighed and smiled contently. While she had a few other things that she had wanted to do, the young blonde had found herself spending hours at Ichiraku Ramen. As soon as she walked in and looked at the owner and his daughter, Teuchii and Ayame, of the stand they slowly went wide eyed recognition. It had been on rare occasions, but the two had seen Kamiko a handful of times when she would wonder up to their stand. That was before the persona Naruto was born.

She was unsurprised by them practically attacking her with questions once they finally got over the initial shock of seeing her. Neither of them knew that she had become Naruto. They were left to believe that she had just up and disappeared from the village. Something that genuinely made Kamiko feel bad, and felt it only fair she tell them everything once she had the two alone.

Thinking about the faces that Ayame and Teuchii made as they were informed of what had become of her caused Kamiko to lightly chuckle. "I don't think they could've been more surprised if I had told them I was actually the Fifth Hokage in disguise while the old man runs things."

"Who was surprised about what?" Coming down the path that led to their training area, Sakura approached Kamiko with a silent Sasuke not too far behind her. The two of them were late, but that was done on the account of who their sensei was. "And you haven't been here long have you? You do remember it is Kakashi we are waiting for."

The smile slipped off the blond's face as she rolled her eyes. "That is really none of your business Sakura, and yes I do know who we are waiting on. Thank you for pointing out the obvious." Sakura's response was to frown. "Plus its kinda relaxing to just sit around here."

"We don't have the time for relaxing," Sasuke grunted as he walked over to a tree opposite of her. "This entire month needs to be filled with training and preparation for the exams. Nothing else matters."

"Yeah sure. I'll make sure not to enjoy any aspect of life for the next month," Kamiko in a really girly voice. "That way you can reach you goals without me being in your way Sasuke-kun... Pfft. Whatever. There's always time to relax. You just gotta know what the right time to relax is."

"Kamiko is absolutely right Sasuke," Kakashi said as he appeared between the three Genin with his trade mark eye smile. "You can train all you want, but there must be times where you step back from it and enjoy the little things. Like reading an enjoyable book." His students just blankly looked at him as he chuckled to himself.

"Riiight... So what are we going to train on today Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura placed a hand on her hip as she tried to figure out a plan to destroy Kakashi's precious book someday.

"Hm," Kakashi thought as he waved the three in front of him. "Today we are going to do two things. One is to make a strategy for each team starting with the team you will be facing in the first round and moving forward from there. Before that, I think we should find out exactly what affinities you three have."

Sasuke smiled as he thought of what Kakashi said. "So you're finally going to start teaching me the skills I really need now."

"The skills we really need," Kamiko sighed as she slowly stretched out on to the ground and stared at the sky. _The Nara's are brilliant..._

"Correct," the Jōnin eye smiled as he pulled out three slips of thin white paper. Handing the first one to Sakura, who slowly took it in both hands with wide eyes, the man nodded in her direction. "Would you might telling and demonstrating to us how this paper works Sakura?"

The pink haired girl nodded eagerly as looked at her sensei then her teammates. "This," she said as she held up the slip of paper, "is a piece of chakra paper. Its used to find out what a person's affinity or affinities are to the elements or sub elements. You just apply a small amount of chakra into the slip, and depending on how how it reacts, it'll show you what elements you have an affinity for. If the paper gains a cut in it, you have a wind affinity. If it crumbles, earth affinity. Burns fire affinity, wrinkles lightning affinity, and dampens water affinity." Holding the chakra paper show that the others could see, Sakura applied her chakra to it. Slowly it began to crumple to dust. "Mine just showed me that I have an affinity for Earth Style Jutsus."

Looking at the slip that he was handed while Sakura talked, Sasuke applied his chakra to the paper. His paper began crinkling in on itself slowly before bursting into flames on the entire top half. "I'm not surprised," Kakashi said as he looked at Sasuke. "Many Uchiha were know to having a lightning affinity, while all were know to have a powerful fire affinity." Sasuke grunted as he stated at his paper with determination.

Kamiko sighed as she looked at her paper. She already knew she had a wind affinity, but the others didn't know that. Not like she used in on the bridge in the Land of Waves, nor were Sakura and Sasuke awake during her fight with Orochimaru. "Man this is such a drag," she said as she added her into her paper. Kamiko's paper quickly split in half before both halves crinkled in on itself much like Sasuke's did, but only much more than his.

"Impressive. You not only have a strong wind affinity, but you have a just as strong lightning affinity," Kakashi said to the surprise of Kamiko. She would have never expected an affinity to lightning. "This will work quite well actually. With your variety of styles, the three of you can make many combinations with your Jutsus. I know the steps to teaching you all to control your affinities and know many Jutsus that you can learn."

"This means you're finally gonna start actually q us," an excited Sakura said as she thrust her fist into the air in front of her. "Finally! When do we start?! When do we start?!" Sasuke grunted while Kamiko smirked. Neither one would vocalize it, but the two of them were just as excited, if not more so, than Sakura. They were ready to finally be moving forward with nothing to stall them.

"We'll begin full training in two days," Kakashi said with an eye smile as his students defeated on the inside. "I want you all to get a little more rest before we begin really training. No good comes from working a beaten body and mind."

Sasuke sighed angrily as he turned his back to the one eyed teacher. "Tch. Then what are we going to do for the next two days? You are obviously telling us not to train."

"How about... I don't know... Relax?" Kamiko yawned as she as she continued cloud gazing. "I mean, I've already started my relaxation here."

Sakura glanced at Kamiko with a little uncertainty before looking back at Kakashi. "Well, if we can't train until then can we at least start forming our plans for fighting the other teams in the final exams? We aren't that mentally tired."

"Hm? I did say that didn't I, bit that can wait. I'll see you three later," Kakashi said with an eye smile as he quickly left the training area leaving behind a angry Sasuke, a completely lost Sakura, and a half sleep Kamiko. Sasuke not caring what his sensei had told them left in a huff to go train in his compound. He refused to become as lax as Kakashi.

Sakura on the other hand stood rooted in her spot. "Did he just ditch us," she mumbled to no one in particular after several minutes of just staring into space. "He totally just ditched us."

"Yeah," Kamiko groaned as she stood up finally and dusted her backside off. "Totally left us so he can go laze off and do whatever it is he does when he is off doing stuff. Whatever that is."

Sakura frowned as she looked at the ground. "I was really hoping he we honestly train us as soon as possible. I'm tired of this crap we have to deal with." With a small amount of rage, the girl slammed her fist into one of the trees as hard as she could.

Kamiko was slightly startled by the girl's sudden display of anger. "Sakura..."

The pink haired girl begin repeatedly slamming both her fist into the tree. "I can't stand this. I'm so tired of being the weak one on the team. I just can't compare to you and Sasuke's abilities. So far I haven't contributed anything to the team since the very beginning. You'd think that I would've gotten stronger somewhere along the line but I haven't. Not even a little bit." She continued slamming her fist into the tree even as she began to bleed and tears gathered in her eyes. "I want... I want to be useful. I want to be an important part of this team and not just the extra person to fill in a slot. I need to be trained right now. If things continue on like they have been I'm going to get everyone killed. I don't know what I would do if I let that happen."

As Sakura did her best to fight back her tears she felt a hand fall on her shoulder. She turned around to face Kamiko's blank stare. After a moment of silence, Sakura went to apologize for her rambling only to feel a fist slam into her face. She cried out as she fell back against the tree behind her. The girl clutched her face as she looked at the blond. A stunned look on her face. "Wha-What?!" She was barely able to block another fist to the face before having to duck under a kunai swipe and lunge away to create diatance. Drawing her own kunai in response, she spun to face the expressionless Kamiko. _I don't get it. Why is she attacking me? What did I say to piss her off?_

Kamiko didn't give Sakura much time to think over the situation. She quickly closed the distance between the two of them and lashed out with kunai in both hands. The pink haired girl was quickly forced to defend herself as she parried attack after attack with her own kunai.

A slash to the throat. A jab to the ribs. A backhand to the skull. With a kunai in hand all these attacks would be fatal if they landed. Just the thought horrified Sakura deep inside. _She's really trying to kill me! If anything lands I'm done for! I have to find a way out of this, bit she's much stronger than me!_ With each blocked attack she found her arms getting heavier. While she had held her ground, the force behind Kamiko's attacks was sapping the strength from her arms. Soon or later her defenses would end up failing her.

Deciding the relying solely on defense would get her no where, Sakura attempted to launch her own attacks. Ducking under another backhand, she slashed at the other girl who just sucked in her gut before spinning and kicking her away. Sakura launched out several smoke bombs as she tumbled away and hid amongst the smoke. Without missing a beat she rolled to her feet and began nonstop launching of kunai and shuriken as fast as she could. All the while trying to think up a plan.

_Okay, so Kamiko is trying to kill me. That's just wonderful. She's stronger than me so I can't beat her in a straight up fight. I don't have any jutsu to attack with nor any genjutsu to distract her with. My best bet is to keep spamming smoke bombs and get the hell out of here. Kakashi-sensei can sort this all out._ She continued her weapon assault while slowly adding more smoke bombs to the mix. The clanging of metal on metal could be heard outside, so the girl assumed Kamiko to be blocking and dodging her attacks. Soon there was a giant cloud of smoke that was covering the grounds. Just what was needed to make an escape, and it couldn't have come a second sooner.

Sakura turned tail and ran as quickly as she could. She had just depleted her stock of kunai and shuriken to one and had nothing left to throw. With that in mind she knew that she was done for if she was caught before leaving the training grounds. Things were a mess and it could get much worse if Kamiko had any say in it. Unfortunately for Sakura she did.

Just as the girl burst out of the smoke she was greeted with the sight of two shadow clones charging her. _She predicted my move,_ she thought as things slowed down in her mind. A double flying elbow was coming straight for Sakura's face and she would be unable to dodge it. _They're gonna push me right back to her. I might be able to dispel them, but that'll be a waste of energy and I have no idea how long that could take. The smoke won't last much longer either._ She let out a muffled cry as the clones' elbows slammed into her and launched her back into the smoke. The girl tumbled across the ground before popping up to her feet and running away from the clones.

The smoke was already beginning to clear away from the area and reveal the surrounding area. Sakura found that there was a clone running on either side of her with blank expressions. The began closing in on her bit by bit. Biting her lip, Sakura waited until they were almost with almost with in arms reach before leaving onto the air and spinning. She set loose her final kunai with fine precision that slammed into the heart of one clone and dispersed it.

The remaining clone launched a flurry of shuriken at the girl and was unsurprised to see her explode into a log upon contact. Reacting to the sound of the air splitting, the cloned ducked and was barely missed as a kunai curved over her head. It watched as the kunai went full circle and landed in Sakura's hand. The girl stood with a determined look on her face as held the kunai in front of herself defensively. Slowly she let it drop from her hand to reveal that it was attached to several intertwined strings of steel ninja wire that were wrapped around her wrist. "I don't know why you're attacking me like this, but don't think I'll go down without a fucking fight!"

As the last of the smoke finally disappeared the two just stared at each other. Neither one of them was even moving a muscle. Whie the clone kept it's expressionless appearance, Sakura held a heated glare as she stared back at it. It was only a clone and one hit was all it takes to dispel one, so she obviously held the advantage, but something didn't seem right about the clone. It wasn't the fact that the clone didn't move or lacked any expression what so ever. No, it was as if the clone seemed content not to move from the spot it was standing in. For a moment she didn't understand what it was the clone was doing just standing there until it finally hit her. _It's... It's just observing me. Then that means..._

Turing her head back, Sakura looked back to where the original Kamiko had sbeen standing and saw the girl's Seversword stabbed into the ground. Kunai littered the ground all around it and its weilder was not in view. That was until she stood up from behind the blade and leaned on to it. _So she wasn't bblocking any of my kunai or shuriken. She just sat behind that giant sword. Why the hell is it so big?_ Sakura gritted her teeth as she decided to turn her back on the clone. The girl had come to the conclusion that for some reason it wouldn't attack her and that she could risk doing so. It was even possible that the other clone had never been a threat either. They were just herding her back towards the original like she had thought they were in the beginning. _It's there to keep me from escaping. I wouldn't be surprised if there are others littering the surrounding forest and under the lake. Kamiko definitely wants to kill me here. Can't runaway can I... Good._ The wire attached kunai begin to slowly spin before picking up speed. Soon it was spinning so fast it was no more than a blur. Sakura slid into a fighting stance as she growled internally. _I'm tired of running away anyways. It's time a faced the problem head on for once or die trying!_

Not waiting for Kamiko to attack first, Sakura charged the blond with the intent to draw blood. Pouring her chakra into the the ninja wires she slashed it at the other girl who quickly kicked the blade out of the ground and blocked. Sakura didn't allow that to stop her as jumped and twirled. She roared as she once again slashed at Kamiko who deftly dodged the attack and watched as the kunai actually slammed into and cracked the ground. "I'm not done yet!" Ripping the wire up she prepared to let slash at the other girl but felt her wrist get wrapped in a crushing grip.

In a burst of speed, Kamiko appeared on the side of Sakura and grabbed the wrist with the ninja wire wrapped around it. She yanked it into the air as she squeezed it and looked at it for a moment before looking back at a wincing Sakura. The pink haired girl's eyes were tightly closed as she waited for the inevitable pain and suffering she was sure to endure, but as the seconds ticked on nothing seemed to be happening. As a matter of fact she even felt the pressure on her wrist lessen until it was all gone.

"You can open your eyes now," Kamiko whispered as she looked at Sakura. Still fearing for her life, but curious about what she would see, Sakuar slowly allowed her eyes to open. What she saw made her heart throb in an odd way. Kamiko was smiling brightly at her and looking into her eyes with the kindness of someone who had always been by your side. "You aren't weak Sakura. I'll admit, you aren't as strong as me or Sasuke, but that doesn't mean that you are weak. Just like us you have gotten stronger since our academy days. In the past you wouldn't have stood your ground and fought like you just did. Even if no one was there to save you, you weren't a fighter. Now you're able to defend yourself from others."

Kamiko placed a hand on Sakura's cheek as her smile sweetened. She brushed away a tear that had fallen down the her face unbeknownst to the other girl. "Shikamaru told me about your fight with the three Oto ninja. I was impressed. You put everything on the line to protect your fallen comrade, and while other's may not see it the same way as you and Ino do, you sacrificed something dear to you in that fight." The blond brushed Sakura's hair and sighed. "You cutting off your hair in the midst of a life or death battle was you cutting away your old self. Not all of your flaws are gone, but nobody is perfect so that that doesn't matter. You are already becoming much stronger than you were before, so I don't want to her anything about you calling yourself weak again okay?"

Sakura nodded numbly as Kamiko walked passed with a satisfied smile on her face. The pinked haired girl slowly dropped to her knees as the tears flowed free from her eyes. Eventually she could no longer hold it in as she began to sob. Her breath hitched as she slowly tried to brush away her heavy tears. Repeatedly saying the same words over and over again. "Thank you... Thank you... Thank you... Thank you..."

"You're welcome," Kamiko whispered as she left the opening in the training ground. The smile didn't leave the blond's face until she reached the busy streets of Konaha. It slipped away as she looked towards the sky and sighed. "Man, I really hope word doesn't get out about that. I seriously don't need my style being cramped or anything like that because I decided to think of my teammate. I should just go to sleep." Flipping her hood on to her hood, the blond started walking down the street and sighed once again. For once she didn't feel like eating ramen until she exploded. _I've been way too soft hearted today. I wonder what I'll dream about tonight._

...

...

...

_...I'll kill you...I swear I'll kill you..._

_...You really are just the sexiest little thing aren't you... Why I could just eat you..._

_...Get the fuck out of my dream dammit... Except you... You stay and keep telling me how sexy I am..._

* * *

**A/N: I literally just picked Primula up from_ Shuffle! _and placed her in this fic with a new personality. I don't do crossovers really so no other non-Naruto character should appear. This chapter was hard for me to write for some reason. So much to focus on. Until next time my friends~  
**


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